12,858,051,967,633,865
by AcausalTrilby
Summary: Can somebody ever be a successful hero without a quirk. That's not something that Izuku Midoriya ever wondered about. Quite the opposite in actual fact. Godlike!Izuku
1. Chapter 1

If you were to ask a native Japanese person what the symbol for heroism in their country was they would say All Might. In fact the question has been asked in multiple polls and All Might has always gotten more than fifty percent of the vote. But in a consistent second place has always been U.A High School. Taking in the best of the best and consistently delivering the best of the best. U.A High has long been a source of pride for many heroes and featured in the dreams of many aspiring heroes. As a result of its high reputation the campus always got applicants far in excess of what they could effectively teach, at least without dropping their standards.

Too counter that U.A High developed an entrance exam that has been called the most difficult in Japan and eleventh overall in the world, for hero schools at least. A written exam that could only be described as murderously difficult combined with an as yet unknown practical exam…

"Would you please stop speaking so loud," a black-haired teen who practically embodied the term straight-laced said. "You're showing disrespect to the faculty and disrupting the other students."

"My bad," Masaru Tenchi said with an apologetic chuckle as he ran his hand through his flaming red mop of hair. The other students around him didn't appear to be overtly angry at his monologue, although a few of them shot him odd looks and there was at least one person doubled over in laughter. That was good; refusing to be so rattled by a simple speech would serve them well in a career of heroism. He knew of one ash blond friend that would have already knocked his lights out by now.

"Precisely," Present Mic said smiling as he addressed the audience as a whole. "Personally if you ask me this year we're going to make a rockin' attempt to get into the top ten. But before we get to the exam let me offer you some insight into the way that you can also enter these hallowed halls. On the field that we'll be releasing you onto there are four types of robots. One points," he gestured towards the screen which showed an image of a tripedal robot. "Two points," he said and the screen showed the image of a scorpion-like robot. "Three points," he said and the screen lit up with a much more bulky quadrupedal robot. Or at least that it is what it looked like to Masaru's preliminary analysis. "Any question," he said waiting for anybody to ask the obvious.

"I have one," that same black-haired straight laced person asked, raising his hand and obliging the teacher. "You have stated that there are four robots in total and yet you have only mentioned three. I cannot believe that such a highly rated institution as U.A High School could have made such an error?"

"Well picked up," Present Mic said, the smile on his face growing. "The last of these four robots is worth zero points." The screen popped up a silhouette of a human shaped robot of indeterminable size. "When it pops up you should probably just run and get out of the way. This robot wasn't developed to be possible to defeat by any but the most powerful heroes."

"Is the destruction of the robots the only way to gain points," Masaru said raising his hand as well in order to ask the question.

Present Mic gave one of his great presenter smiles and then. "Right, let's start," he said as he ignored his question and causing a spontaneous burst of activity as the collected hopefuls took off in an attempt to hunt down the robots. Masaru sighed at the non-answer and also left moving at a carefully calculated speed that was about forty percent above that of the average applicant. But he didn't stay on the floor for long, running around the streets playing whack-a-mole with the various robots seemed like a terribly inefficient way to pass the test, and so he quickly devised a new plan. His fingers became bathed in green light and he leapt at the wall of a building, digging his fingers into sides. The brick surface faded into nothingness as the green light touched it and he used the holes created by his power to swiftly ascend the side of the building.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw people destroy down those robots their points steadily incrementing and leaving his score of zero in the dust. No panic crossed his face as he reached the top in less than thirty seconds, a speed truly worthy of U.A Academy. Taking a moment to enjoy the high up scenery he scanned the field picking up the various robots and deliberately taking note of the three pointers. Then he raised his right hand and the green light increased in intensity until it was almost blinding. Casually he then he pointed two fingers at a random 3-pointer and released. A bolt of green lightning locked onto the unfortunate robot instantly disintegrating its head without any resistance.

Calculating the number of total automatons Masaru channelled more of the green light and quickly sniped them off, practically racking up the needed points. The non-organic material offered little resistance against his power and when he ran out of 3-pointers in his view he leapt buildings, digging his hands into the side and climbing up again to repeat the procedure. At the death of the twentieth robot and consequentially his sixtieth point he decided to take it easy. By his calculations that was enough points to easily make it into the hero course. There was no need to take all of the robots and thus disadvantage the others.

Taking a break he stood on the edge of the rooftop and looked down on the other competitors. They were actually pretty competent, with a nice variety of quirks and a basic knowledge on how to use them; more than a basic knowledge in some cases. His eyes drifted towards a certain blond who was currently dominating the scoreboard and he wondered if they knew he was here. Kneeling down at the edge of the building he examined his reflection in the glass, taking special note of his vermillion eyes and burning crimson locks.

Nodding in satisfaction, he was just about to stand up when the building lurched to the side violently throwing him over the edge. Thinking quickly he stuck his hands into the sides of the building again creating momentary handholds. But his relief was short lived as the building didn't stop moving and he realised with some exasperation that the building was toppling over. Wasting no more time Masaru darted down the rapidly collapsing building avoiding the various pieces of rubble that desired to do horrible things to his face. Reaching the end of the building he grimaced at the thirty foot drop. Still it wasn't that bad more than half of people survived a drop of that height and the chances increased if the person falling knew how to land.

Smiling he decided to have fun with the situation and launched himself off the roof landing a flawless double front flip as he did so and landing perfectly, his knees bending as he distributed the force of the impact perfectly. Standing up arms outstretched after that Olympic level front flip he waited for applause, but instead all he got was screams.

Many U.A applicants were running past hi and it didn't take long for Masaru to figure out the reason why. An absolutely massive humanoid robot dominated the sky. Towering over the buildings as it walked, it was obviously the thing that knocked over his sniping spot.

"How did I not see that before," he said as he looked at the machine with wide eyes. "How could they afford that?" he continued doing mental calculations as to the cost of the robot and whistling appreciatively.

The question was cut short as the last person who was running away passed him and Masaru managed to catch a glimpse through the kicked up dust. A brown haired girl was trapped beneath a pile of rubble at the robots feet. She was squirming in a futile attempt to try and reach the rubble but to no avail. A quick glance around told Masaru that nobody had tried to help her, instead panicking and saving their own hides. While he supposed that it was very excusable, they were only applicants after all and hadn't had the necessary training and conditioning, he still found it a bit disappointing. Although that could just be his unique point of view, while he had made many attempts, he still found it impossible to empathise with others sometimes.

Dashing forward to the side of the girl he thrust his arms up, the green light reaching its highest intensity yet as he formed a shield from his hands a few seconds before the arm of the zero-pointer crushed them both. Green lightning crackled between his fingers creating voids in the metal wherever it touched, before the entire hand of the robot crumbled and the machine recoiled, its programming warning it to avoid touching the emerald energy any further.

Not letting the short break go to waste Masaru reached down to the rubble covering the girl and lifted it up and off her, being careful to avoid hurting her further. Smiling at the brown haired girl, he offered her his hand and helped her to her feet.

"Thank you," the girl said smiling and making a very good attempt at hiding the panic in her voice. "You saved me. I would have been a pancake without your help."

"It's no prob…" he started to say and then his eyes opened wide at the sight in front of him. The giant robot had picked up a chunk of the building with its one good hand and was preparing to throw it at them. The girl whose name he didn't know turned and her eyes widened as she saw the same image as him and in the next second they were both running the hell away from the rampaging robotic kaiju.

"Can you do that light thing again," she said in between breaths.

"I have one more use of it," Masaru lied. "If I could reach the head I might be able to take it down."

She nodded to him and then grabbed him and yanked him into the entranceway of a nearby building, just moments before the chunk of building hit the space they were standing in and destroyed the street. "I've got a plan," she said. "My quirk allows me to negate the gravitational pull of an object that I touch. If I use it on you, you might be able to reach the head. Are you paying attention to me?" she asked as she watched Masaru's attention drift towards her chest.

"Hmm, sorry," he apologized. "I didn't know you were an Izukean," he said pointing at the symbol of a stylized sideways eight, on a necklace, that was so often used by the members of that religion.

"I'm not really," she denied blushing. "Well my parents are pretty into it, I just wear it to keep them happy."

"Haha," Masaru laughed into his hand. "Very family orientated. I like people like you," he said turning away as her face turned scarlet. "That robot does seem to be gunning for us. Let's execute your plan." He strode out into the streets staring up at the robot that had gouged out more of the surroundings. He focused on the head of the robot and a second later he felt a pat on the back and the ever-present force of gravity that imposed on him every second of the day ceased. Bending his knees he leapt and for the first time in the life of Masaru Tenchi he flew.

Locked onto the robot's head he balked as the hands holding the debris came together to crush him and he was forced to bounce between the two incoming rocks, only exiting the incoming hands a second before collision. Channelling the green lightning into his hands and using the remains of his power he lashed out with both fists feeling his knuckles hit the sturdy non-organic substance for a moment before the entire head of the contraption was disintegrated.

"Oh and times up," the voice of Present Mic announced drawing an end to the U.A Entrance Exam. "Results will be posted to you within two weeks; this is Present Mic, signing out."

"Now how am I going to get down," Masaru said as he slowly drifted upwards and away from U.A High School. "Still it is a beautiful day," he admitted as he stared up at the beautiful blue sky bereft of all but a few clouds. Feeling the warmth of the sun and the breeze Masaru slowly closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

xxx

He woke up to a sharp thud on the ground and a minor pain on his back. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he stood up massaging aching muscles as he did so. He yawned and looked at his surroundings. There were quite a large amount of astounded looking people looking at him. It was probably because he slept while in such a situation. Well it wasn't as if he could actually do anything. Masaru's had nothing that would help him get down from that height. He would have to trust entirely in the staff of U.A and the brown haired girl to get him down.

Well it looked like they succeeded, so Masaru decided to look out for the brown haired girl. It didn't take too long to find her; apparently she was on the ground regurgitating. Masaru idly wondered if it was a drawback to her quirk, then he turned away giving her some privacy.

He was about to go home when he was stopped by a familiar old woman. Recovery girl, was her name, she wasn't actually a true hero insomuch as a healer of heroes.

"Are you injured," she inquired.

"Just tired," Masaru immediately answered back. "My nap was interrupted."

She looked like she was going to say something, but then just shook her head and moved on, apparently to tend to the more wounded applicants.

"Are you okay," the brown haired girl said from behind him, apparently recovered from her sickness, and he turned to look at her. "I'm so sorry. I can't bring back gravity slowly. I can only release the weightlessness all at once."

"No problem," Masaru said shrugging his shoulders. "How did I get down here anyway?"

"Oh, I used a piece of concrete to lift myself up and then when I reached you I cancelled my quirk on you and then I cancelled my quirk on the rubble and then when it was about to hit the ground I used my quirk again," she smiled sheepishly. "And then by that point I was feeling sick so I put you down and that's when you woke up."

"Impressive," Masaru said. "That'd quite a clever way of doing it. Are you not able to slowly release your quirk however? Maybe cancel only half of the gravitational effect?"

"I've never been able to do that before," the brown haired girl lamented. "By the way my name is Ochaco Uraraka. What's yours?"

"Masaru Tenchi," he lied in response. "Pleased to meet you," he said truthfully. "He caught a glimpse of a familiar face full of irritation and decided not to put of biting the bullet. "Let's meet again at the academy, right now I have a bullet that needs biting."

"If I get into the academy," Ochaco said. "Hopefully they don't take points of for needing to be saved."

"On the contrary they probably add points for saving people," Masaru said. "And make no mistake, you definitely saved me."

"Thanks," she said. "I guess I'll see you at U.A."

Masaru waved as he went on his merry way. The girl would be fine, but a little bit of help never hurt. Swivelling his head, he locked onto the form of Present Mic and walked towards the pro hero. Present Mic was not his favourite hero, but he admired the way that the veteran could work the crowd. Dealing with the public was truly the most underrated skill of a pro hero.

"Yo," he greeted the pro hero who was standing away from the crowd, most likely taking a break. "That was quite a test."

"You did pretty well from what I've seen," the pro hero complimented him, showing no signs of irritation for having his peace disrupted. "Are you confident about your chances?"

"U.A Academy has a 79% cut-off on average and I scored above the ninetieth percentile. I'm fairly confident about my odds," Masaru smiled. "But I'm not sure if the girl that saved me has the same amount of points that I do."

"You're not even attempting to be subtle now are you," Present Mic said with a half-smile. "You're correct, there are rescue points and both of you will likely get them. The calculations have to be checked and triple-checked but I'm sure that both of you will easily make it into the hero course."

"That's all I wanted to know," Masaru said standing up. "I'll leave you to your break."

"There's no need for you to go all of a sudden," Present Mic said in a relaxed tone. "I actually enjoy talking to young and upcoming heroes. I also quite enjoyed your speech earlier, maybe someday you can join me on the television"

"That sounds pretty fun," Masaru started truthfully. "And I would definitely consider doing that but I'm going to be pretty chewed out as soon as I leave. It's best not to delay these things for too long."

"True," Present Mic said as his smile widened. "Is it a woman?"

"No," Masaru said half-truthfully as he turned away. "No it's not a woman."

xxx

As soon as he left the testing arena, he was confronted by a very familiar figure. Spiky ash blonde hair and blood red eyes lay on a sharp angled face. A blazer was rolled up to the elbow revealing well-muscled arms and there was a profound lack of shoes that stood out more than anything as his friend stood there with bare feet. The blazer was only half-buttoned up revealing a bust that could be called a B-cup if one were generous or blind.

"What the fuck are you doing here," Katsuki Bakugou said.

"Calm down Katsuki," Masaru said as his childhood friend glared blue murder at him. "This is hardly the place for it." He gestured towards the fact that they were still surrounded by many of the other applicants. "You can explode at me when we get somewhere quieter."

"Fine," she said, spitting out the word. "You can take us back to your place." At this she turned around and strode away from Masaru heading towards an area with no people or cameras.

Masaru smiled and picked up the pace following her. They walked for about five minutes before Katsuki turned left into an alley and gave him a sharp look. Raising his hands up in a placating gesture he scanned the environment quickly, double checking for any stalkers or cameras. After confirming their non-existence, he snapped his fingers and the two disappeared from the alley.

xxx

The pair reappeared in a rather lavish room and Katsuki took a quick scan easily recognising it. A plush green carpet decorated the ground and various pictures of locations around the world hung on the wall interspersed by pictures of alien landscapes. A single throne sat at the end of the room, but any grandeur was lost when one took in the liberal amounts of cushions and blankets that lay half draped on it. The ceiling looked like a parody of the Sistine chapel only God and Adam were replaced by a faceless man and the true form of this prick in front of her, and both were wearing clothes. Tearing her eyes away from the simply blasphemous images she refocused on the person in front of her.

"Now seriously, what the fuck were you doing there," Katsuki Bakugou said gripping his shirt in a manner that only the most extreme of masochists would ever find attractive.

"I was applying for U.A," Masaru said literally, further pissing off the volatile girl.

Katsuki looked like she was going to explode again and then she took a deep breath and gave a rather false smile. "I see you've been taking acting lessons from that blonde bitch again. How strong is this persona of yours meant to be anyway?"

"Decently strong, but his greatest talent would be his extreme intelligence and his analytical skills," Masaru said crossing his arms and holding up one finger. "He is limited by the fact that he doesn't have much experience."

"That's good," Katsuki said and then punched him, hard. An explosion blossomed as soon as her fist made contact and within an instant his skull was destroyed and his upper torso evaporated leaving only a pair of arms that fell lifelessly to the ground and a pair of legs that remained where he stood.

"Was that really necessary," the corpse spoke and in the next second a miracle happened. A torso grew from the legs and the arms eagerly reattached to it and in the next instant a fully healed person was standing there, but it was not the same person. Where before was red, there was now green, and a pair of emeralds glared into Katsuki's eyes from beneath a mop of jade hair before they softened. A hundred tiny changes to weight, height and facial definition completed the look.

"Izuku, there is literally a law that says you can't pull this shit," Katsuki said to the now green haired, green eyed boy standing opposite her.

"It's not a law, it's a treaty," Izuku corrected.

"That doesn't make it better," Katsuki said taking deep breaths to prevent her from exploding. "I don't know why on Earth you would jeopardize the treaty that you worked so hard for."

"Times change Katsuki and I've chafed under the restrictions of that agreement for long enough. The first step to changing it is to change the hearts and minds of the populace. You and I both know how heroes can spark admiration. Can you imagine it," he moved his hands as if to frame a picture. "Masaru Tenchi is actually Izuku Midoriya. Even as the ungrateful leaders of the world forbade him from heroism, the noble Izuku didn't let that stop him. Going undercover like a prince escaping from his castle he infiltrated the premier hero academy with the sole intention of saving as many people as he can."

"You're not fucking Emiya," Katsuki spat out. "So keep those trite half-baked responses for the reporters. What's the real reason Izuku?"

"Maybe you just don't know me very well," Izuku started but Katsuki had enough.

With no warning she lashed out with her fist, with force that could crush concrete she aimed straight towards the idiot's head. Izuku didn't move as her punch approached him and for a moment she felt a feeling of triumph, before it settled into familiar defeat. Izuku stood upon her outstretched arm, weighing less than a feather, his transition to that position occurring too fast for her to perceive.

"Okay, okay I won't lie," Izuku waved his hands in a placating gesture and backflipped to the ground when she withdrew her arm. "Would you like anything to drink," he offered but Katsuki just gave him an irritated gesture, telling him to go on.

"Do you remember when we were young," he said drawing a can of some foreign brand from the air. "We always said we were going to be heroes. Before everything happened."

"And you thought now was the perfect time to relive your childhood dream," Katsuki said in amazement. "Not to mention what the hell can U.A teach somebody like you?"

"I don't know," Izuku said and for once her friend sounded defeated. "Sorry I've just been spinning my wheels for the past few years."

Katsuki sighed, refusing to indulge his pity party. "Isn't lying immoral though," she said trying to hit away at his weakpoint.

"Lying under the deontological approach to ethics would always be considered wrong," Izuku said finishing up the can he was drinking from and letting it disappear from his hand. "However as your personal responsibility increases I believe it should be advised to switch to utilitarianism as the consequences of the actions have a greater effect on society. As my mental wellbeing has an effect on any that look up to me and my actions have the ability to have great consequences I must always focus on the greater consequences of my action above the simpler notions of right and wrong."

"That sounds like bullshit," Katsuki said crossing her arms. "And what if you do get found out and the treaty gets broken?"

"Those who signed are far more reluctant to break the treaty than me," Izuku refuted with dangerous eyes. "It wasn't drafted to protect me, after all."

"Your physical wellbeing wasn't even on my mind, but okay whatever makes you sleep at night," Katsuki said.

"I don't sleep," Izuku rebutted.

"Yeah, I'm not going to pick another goddamned fight with you right after the Entrance Exam so you can stop trying to provoke me," Katsuki said.

"How many points did you get anyway," Izuku asked curiously.

"120," Katsuki said nonchalantly as she turned away, walking up to the throne and slouching on it.

"Wow, you really didn't hold back," Izuku said clapping at the impressive score.

"Of course I held back," Katsuki rebutted. "I stopped at 120. It was a nice round number that would put me at number one."

"I don't think U.A has too much to teach you either," Izuku observed. "Did you attack the zero-pointer?

"Why would I do that," Katsuki began and then stopped. "You attacked that thing. What happened to keeping a low profile and…" Katsuki said as the thought occurred to her. "Why the fuck did you use the pervert lightning as your quirk."

"It is not pervert lightning!" Izuku shouted defensively. "Can't you just let that go? They only disintegrate non-organic material. You would think you would be happy that you didn't even get a scratch in that bout."

"At the expense of all of my clothing," Katsuki said scoffing but didn't push the topic any further.

"Did anybody catch your eye during the Entrance Exam," Izuku said changing the topic from the perv… the inorganic deconstruction beams.

"They're all a bunch of damn weaklings," Katsuki said emphatically.

"Not everybody can possess the quirks of you or me, Katsuki," Izuku said in a placating manner.

"I didn't say anything about their quirks," the ashen hair girl retorted. "You could have the quirk of All Might and still be a weakling."

Izuku frowned but Katsuki wasn't done yet. "Why the hell did you pick my dad's name anyway?" she asked. "Out of all the names what the hell made you choose that one."

"I've always liked the name," Izuku admitted. "It's also has quite a bit of your name in it and I think it describes me well."

"Victory over heaven and earth," Katsuki mused and then she snorted. "And people call me arrogant."

"Is it arrogant if you can back it up?" Izuku questioned.

"Yes!" Katsuki interjected flat out ending the conversation right there leaving only a comfortable silence.

"Dinner at my place," Izuku offered after a bit.

"Sure," said Katsuki after a few brief moments of contemplating refusal and the pair disappeared from the room.

xxx

Izuku walked through the streets in his Masaru disguise. Technically Masaru didn't exist and he had to exert great effort in order to create this imaginary persona. U.A Academy were not idiots, in fact their principal was apparently an immensely intelligent rodent. The same rodent had contacted him today to inform him that he had passed. In fact the headmaster had informed him that he had not just passed but, along with Katsuki who he tied with for first place, had crushed the exams. He had hoped that the fact that his chosen power was especially compatible with the test, would mitigate the situation but he had been informed that his score had immediately set himself apart as an extraordinary student and thus more would be expected from him.

It wasn't all bad, the intelligence he had displayed had led to a standing offer from the principal to discuss the entrance exam and he was informed that he and Katsuki may be expected to make a speech for the upcoming sports festival. Katsuki would likely offload it onto him if she was given half a chance. She had always hated his monologues.

Oh well, he was currently heading to her house, he'd ask her then. Walking past an electronic store his eyes were captured and he quickly backtracked. The news channel was playing as it often was in these situations and a story about the murder of multiple heroes was running. Intrigued Masaru walked up to the storefront and took more than a glance at the news reports. Clicking his tongue after a bit, he grew annoyed as the news continued with a consistent lack of actual facts. Stab wounds were common enough and vague enough that it told him pretty much nothing. Izuku briefly toyed with the idea of breaking into the police station and inspecting the evidence, but decided against it. While he was curious, it really had nothing to do with him. If he started moving again a lot of powerful people would get antsy. So reluctantly he tabled any thoughts of going after the hero killer.

Sighing Masaru headed down the street to talk to Katsuki. Katsuki Bakugou was Masaru's friend, or at least that was the narrative he was trying to sell. Izuku Midoriya was not Katsuki's friend. Not officially at least, they were secret friends and very few knew of their connection. Masaru sighed again as he walked down the street. Walking was a strange activity that Masaru found that he didn't enjoy. When he was Izuku he just used **Alibi Block** to appear wherever he wanted without all the hassle of dealing with standard three dimensional spaces.

Having enough of the slow pace Masaru took off in a run, dashing through the streets with an above average speed that was combined with superhuman spatial awareness that allowed him to effortlessly avoid the other passers-by. At that pace he reached the Bakugou household in less than five minutes. At the house he rapped his knuckles on the front door in order to rouse those inside. Barely thirty seconds had passed before the door opened and Katsuki's mom opened it up. She actually looked remarkably like his childhood friend, except perhaps a bit taller and with a bit more generous test and Izuku resolved to tease his friend about it later.

"Can I help you?" she said calmly but Izuku knew from experience that any calmness that she displayed could very easily turn into an outburst. Masaru just put his finger to his lips and then let his eyes return to normal and the woman in response nodded as recognition entered her eyes. She smiled at him and opened the door wide allowing him to come in.

"So Katsuki mentioned you were going to U.A," she started the conversation as soon as he entered their house. "Is that the disguise you're going in?"

"Yup," Izuku said gesturing at himself. "Just call me Masaru Tenchi while I'm in this form."

"That's adorable," Mitsuki said smiling. "I can't wait until I tell my Masaru. He'll be so happy that you're using his name.

"Please don't," Masaru said weakly. As Izuku he had spent a huge chunk of his childhood here due to being Katsuki's friend. Mitsuki and Masaru had almost become like second parents to him during that time and due to the fact that his own father was an absentee for all of his life he had deeply bonded with the calm, loving man. Despite all his power and knowledge he was very weak against them as well as his own mother. But it didn't make a difference as Mitsuki was off, probably to fetch her husband.

"What the fuck is going on?" Katsuki said as she entered the room. "What did you tell my mom?"

"Ah, she just found out the name that I would be using as a hero," Masaru admitted. "Hey Katsuki do you want to go to…" he rummaged through his memories for a list of locations. "The arcade?"

"Maybe another time," she said smirking at his discomfort. "A lot of the machines haven't already set and it irks me to see impossible scores on the leader board under three eights."

"How about the pool," he asked growing more frantic.

"No my old costume's grown a bit too small. I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to join you."

"How about the shopping centre then," Masaru said shifting his feet in a clear display of his eagerness to get out.

"That's actually a pretty good idea," Katsuki said after a short while to make Masaru sweat. "Okay let's go."

Masaru didn't wait a second, but instead immediately rushed out the door. Katsuki smiled to herself and gave a wink as the door opened revealing her parents on the other side. It was good to play tricks on Izuku now and again and she took great delight in reminding him that for all his power and knowledge he was still human. Whistling a happy tune she exited the room following quickly after him.

xxx

"No I don't want to go to the bookstore. Honestly why did you have to be such a damn nerd all the time," Katsuki said shaking her head at the red-head.

"What do you want to go to the beauty parlour, maybe have a haircut," Masaru responded in a teasing manner.

"Fuck off," Katsuki replied with a noticeable twitch in her eye and when nobody else was looking she decked him, regulating her strength so that nothing would break.

"So you got accepted into U.A High I heard," Masaru said rubbing his eye. If he didn't fix it, he would be left with a black eye and he decided to leave it untreated, while he was Masaru anyway.

"Obviously," Katsuki said rolling her eyes. "The other competitors were jokes. I heard that you tied with me," she replied. "What the hell happened to keeping a low profile?"

"It was an accident, I assure you," Masaru defended himself.

"Anything on at the movies," Katsuki asked. "Not sappy shit or anything."

"Yeah, there's a couple good ones," Masaru said. He was referring to action movies. Katsuki was not the biggest fan of most dramas and she would be pretty offended if he even suggested a romance. Katsuki Bakugou was outwardly violent and if you managed to bypass those layers you would find a core comprising even more violence. To put it in simplified terms, she possessed absolutely no dere and many mountains of tsun.

"I would punch you in the face if I didn't agree with every single thing you've said," the violent girl said holding her fist aloft. "Now come on there's a documentary about the rise of heroism in the West."

The girl did like her heroes though. Masaru smiled and followed her to the cinema. Paying for his own ticket, he took a seat next to her and for the next thirty minutes was entertained by a collection of foreign heroes that most in the cinema had probably ever heard of before. He enjoyed the documentary; it was good to see the heroes as bastions of order and society from people who looked up to heroes. His usual view didn't elevate them quite as much.

He was watching them give a brief overview of the number one rated American hero Alacrity Light when a death registered in his senses. Normally this wouldn't be unusual; he had long grown accustomed to death. Only the violence of the death and its closeness tickled his senses. Glancing at Katsuki he tapped her shoulder and in a voice less than a whisper he announced his intent to leave. Not even waiting for a response he used **Alibi Block** to transfer himself into a nearby bloody alleyway that was dominated by the dead form of a hero. The alleyway was empty of all life but he still had the feeling of being watched. Ignoring the eyes that were upon him he went over to inspect the hero.

The hero was young to the extent that he wondered if she had even left U.A High yet. Blue body armour was worn over a full body skintight suit. Long blonde hair was matted and caked with blood and a jolt of pain went through Masaru's chest as he came to the realisation that this hero probably still had parents at home that she would never see again. He dropped **Fantasy Illusion** allowing his real appearance to be shown to the world. The marks on her body were familiar, far too familiar.

"Get down here Stendhal," he said as his eyes locked onto the lurking form out of sight.

The very next instant the alleyway was enveloped in a cold aura and the presence of the hero killer made itself known. Muscled and in a black combat suit, hunched over and yet standing tall, his hair was messy and unkempt and his nose had been sliced cleanly off of his face. Stendhal had truly changed since the last time he had seen him. The image of a prowling wolf determined to tear out the throat of any its way, the hero killer was a man who would frighten any human who stepped in his way. So Izuku simply stopped being human. Two impossibly green stars glared at Stendhal and the cold black miasma that had permeated the alleyway burnt up in an instant.

"Why did you do this Stendhal," Izuku asked unamused.

"Call me Stain," the former vigilante replied but Izuku Midoriya remained in place awaiting the answer. "For I will stain my hands with the blood of these false heroes."

"What is a fake hero?" Izuku asked as he eyed the hero killer.

"A hero must not desire rewards or compensation, a hero must make the ultimate sacrifice," Stain recited and it was to his utmost credit that he didn't back down when faced with the full force of Izuku's glare.

"You're trying to separate the hero from the human it doesn't work like that," Izuku began and then stopped. "Will anything I say to you make you change your mind?" he asked and the question was posed as much too himself as to the newly named Stain.

"I am prepared to even go against you if necessary," Stain said not backing down an inch.

Izuku frowned and green lightning fluttered around his fingers. The name of this power was called **I Banish**. This was the much more destructive power than the quirk **Value Lives** that he chose for Masaru which only targeted non-living items. **I Banish** would destroy everything without hesitation. He focused on the hero killer and the air thrummed with power for a few long seconds before he dropped his hand.

"I hope you find some happiness," he said turning away from Stain. "If I meet you as a hero I will end you." He looked at the blond woman's face, memorizing her features and for one brief glorious moment he considered bringing her back to life before he sighed and disappeared from the alleyway leaving the hero killer alone with his fresh kill.

xxx

"Would you like any more," his mother offered holding more breakfast aloft. Inko Midoriya was a middle aged woman with black hair and green eyes. She was reasonable slim although she seemed to be putting on a few pounds as she advanced in age. She was also the person in the world that Izuku loved the supported him wholeheartedly in all of his attempts, no matter who he set himself against and she had been a pillar in his life for years, believing in him, even as nobody else did and no matter how much Katsuki teased him over it he would never stop loving his mother.

However love was not enough to protect her. To all but two people in the world Inko Midoriya had no son and Izuku Midoriya had no mother. It pained him to do so, but the amount of enemies he'd made over the years forced him to hide his relationships, using the skill **Secret Research** to prevent anybody making the connection between him and those he cared for. The world would not permit these indulgences and ironically once again the net effect was leaving him less of a man in the world's eyes.

"No thanks mom," Izuku said smiling. "Your cooking was wonderful. I might be bringing Katsuki over today, do you mind catering for us both."

"Not at all," Inko said smiling. For some reason beyond Izuku's ocean of knowledge she had taken a shine to the abrasive, gruff, rude and bad-tempered Katsuki. "Have you packed all your stationery and gym clothes?"

"Yes," Izuku said enjoying the little ritual.

"Please tell me you didn't take your entire library of books on ethics," Inko said with some exasperation on her face.

"Only the one on heroic professional ethics," Izuku said, pulling out the worn book from his bag. "Don't worry I won't overdo it. I'll go to U.A like a normal child and have a normal first day of classes."

Inko smiled a soft smile. "I'm proud of you," she said causing a warm feeling to grow in his chest.

"Thanks mom," he replied stepping out of the house his green hair and eyes already turned red. Musutafu was beautiful in the morning light, comprising of many tall skyscrapers and a variety of apartment blocks. While it wasn't what you would call conventionally attractive Masaru had lived and grown up in this place for the majority of his life and the sight grew on him. He took a slow walk greeting any familiar faces he came across and by the time he arrived at the campus there was less than ten minutes until the start of homeroom.

Staring at the entrance he felt a mild trepidation seize him. While he avoided the question with Katsuki he did actually want to attend hero school. It had been one of his childhood dreams and one that he had held on for far longer than any of the others. To be a hero, stop the villains and save the civilians was the height of his ambitions when his age could still be measured in single digits. Even now he still felt the need to learn heroism and to surround himself with those burning to make a mark on the world and become true heroes.

"Maybe he could even make a few friends," he thought and then dismissed it from his mind. For all that those chosen were the best and brightest. For all the power of their quirks and the skills of their minds and bodies, in the end they were simply Not Equal.

And it was impossible to forget that.

xxx

 _"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?_ _  
_ _Then he is not omnipotent._ _  
_ _Is he able, but not willing?_ _  
_ _Then he is malevolent._ _  
_ _Is he both able and willing?_ _  
_ _Then whence cometh evil?_ _  
_ _Is he neither able nor willing?_ _  
_ _Then why call him God?"_ _  
_ _\- Epicurus_


	2. Chapter 2

Bombs with the power to obliterate a building dropped to the floor, but not one of them exploded. Drip, drip, drip, the noise sounded out three times in the emptiness of the room. A hand that trembled only slightly was connected to an arm filled with lithe, lean muscles. That hand was the only point of contact that the owner of the arm had to the floor.

"Ninenty-nine, one hundred," Katsuki Bakugou finished her sets and with one last push flipped onto her feet. The muscles in her arm stung lightly but the workout was by no means exhaustive. On an ordinary day she might even proceed for a few hours more, forging her body into a true fighting machine. But today was not like any other day and so she gave up on exercising and showered, transitioning from her sweat pants and sports bra into the dull grey uniform that U.A. required of its students. Well with some slight modifications. She hated the fucking skirts mandated by the school and thus decided to wear a pair of U.A. trousers under the now redundant piece of shit. Although she could feel in her marrow that she was going to get some snarky comment from Izuku about mistaking her gender and her hand unconsciously turned into a fist. He was her best friend but sometimes, a lot of times she amended, he made her want to punch him.

Still she could endure it. Izuku as his normal playful, kind and yet over-the-top self was the side of him she liked the most. She could tolerate a few jibes for the sake of him being in one of his more pleasant moods. Hell she gave as good as she got in return and he seemed to shrug it off or even enjoy it, the fucking masochist. Although that side of him hadn't been as prevalent ever since that day they got the results. In fact ever since he returned to the cinema, right at the part when they got to the part about the Italian Villain Vici, he had seemed a little depressed.

Shrugging she continued to the kitchen and grabbed a bowl of miso soup and wolfed it down. Her parents had left early to work and thus she made sure to diligently lock up the house before she took off on a course towards U.A High. Despite not running she moved far quicker than her young age would suggest and soon she was inside the grounds of U.A slipping through the crowds of new and returning students alike with barely a glance. Observing the layout of the school and the numbers of the surrounding classrooms it took her under a minute to find. She strolled into the classroom and took her first look at the people that would be her classmates for the next few years, feeling immense disappointment at the mediocracy displayed.

'Maybe my standards are just fucked up,' she thought, not for the first time. She had been Izuku's friend since the both of them were young children and she had sparred multiple times throughout the years with the insuperable boy. It was hard to think of anybody as strong after seeing some of the shit that he could pull off. Sighing she reclined into her chair, feeling only a lingering slight discomfort from her muscles after her morning workout, and put her feet up.

"What do you think you're doing?" a masculine voice disrupted her relaxation. Opening eyes she caught a glimpse of a tall broad-shouldered black haired guy with square glasses.

"Trying to take a fucking rest, you lame-ass piece of crap," Katsuki said with annoyance causing the man to flinch in the face of her response. He wasn't strong she concluded after the briefest glance at him. While he seemed to possess a smidgeon of potential, she would be able to cream him within a second if she got remotely serious.

"Should you really be using that language," he said doubling down on his overbearingness. "Putting your feet on the desk is disrespecting the people who made it. Not to mention the use of male uniform."

"You're just trying to look at my legs, pervert," Katsuki shot back automatically and watched with some pleasure as her opponent tried to stammer out some form of defence. The pleasure faded as she realised that she had just pulled off a very Izuku-like move.

"The first day of High School was always an important event in any young person's life," a familiar voice rang out and Katsuki laid her face to rest upon her hand in response. "As a person enters into the new halls and discards the final trappings of middle school they are confronted with a few familiar and many unfamiliar faces, each of them possessing the ability to be the greatest friend or the direst enemy."

Izuku Midoriya in the disguise of Masaru Tenchi stepped into the room. His voice carried clear through the mutters of the classroom and slowly but surely every single person in the room turned their eyes towards him. He seemed to take no notice of the many gazes, instead staring into space as he continued his monologue.

"Perhaps in every other school this would be the primary concern of those gathered here and for many it was, however a select few had looked deeper into the U.A course and what they discovered caused seeds of anxiety to sprout in their hearts."

What he may have said next was never heard because the monologue was interrupted by a book shaped missile that flew from the hands of Katsuki Bakugou into the face of Masaru Tenchi. It was a hit that even a first class baseball pitcher would praise and Masaru was knocked right off his feet and onto the cold floor of the classroom.

"What are you doing?" the apparently blind student of U.A said as he yelled at her. "You can't just throw things at people. What were you going to do if he was severely injured?"

Katsuki let out a snicker at the absurd thought and then stopped. None of the students knew the real identity of Masaru Tenchi. Izuku Midoriya could have a mountain dropped on him and come out completely unharmed whereas the student that she had just hit could conceivably fall and hurt himself. It would be extremely unfitting of a pro hero, but then again many of the students surrounding her were unfitting of a pro hero. In future she had to be mindful of not using her full strength on these children.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" the most obnoxious of the children said and she could silently praise him for not retreating despite the glare she shot him in response.

"You should relax," Izuku… no Masaru said as he popped up behind the stern glasses wearing student causing him to start somewhat. "If you worry about every little thing then soon you're going to have no energy for the important things."

"I will take your advice under consideration," he said giving a slight bow. "I must also congratulate you on your performance during the entrance exam. You've clearly surpassed me in figuring out the objective of the test. I didn't even contemplate the idea of rescue points."

"Hmmm," Masaru said in reply as he inspected the student. The silence that arose from his noncommittal reply begged to be filled and so after only a short moment of hesitation the glasses wearing student did so.

"I would have obviously gone for the rescue if it wasn't a test," he started only to be interrupted in the next second by Masaru.

"That's a lie," he said instantly and tactlessly and the person who she would be referring to as shitty glasses from now on, due to lack of introduction took a step back as if startled.

"I…" he began, trying to defend himself.

"There's no shame in it," Masaru said waving his hands in a placating motion. "To dive into a life or death situation to save a stranger requires more than a strong resolve and a decent level of strength. Learning to act under pressure and more importantly how to act under pressure can come only with experience. Relax," he said smiling friendlily. "So you could have done better. You should be glad, isn't it great to know you still have room for improvement?"

"I guess so," he said although to Katsuki's eye's he still looked far less happy than he did a minute ago. She shook her head in disbelief. It was funny how Masaru's honest helpful advice did far more damage to than her insults. She was actually surprised to see Masaru call out lies in that manner. It was something that Izuku often did, but not something that the rest of the world knew that he did. To see him include it in the persona he created really indicated how much effort he was putting into Masaru.

"That's pretty mean Masaru," another god dammed spectator, that apparently knew his name said as she entered the room and was immediately labelled as round cheeks by an irate Katsuki who currently wished that both her and shitty glasses would just fuck off from her desk.

"Was I perhaps too tactless," the red head spoke out loud. "I should reiterate that its normal, even expected. If you jumped into such a situation when you weren't prepared the consequences could be even worse. You can't teach a coffin anything after all."

"No I'm okay thank you," shitty glasses said with a slight bow. "Thank you for your advice. I will take it under consideration."

"No problem. I'm Masaru by the way," Izuku's persona gave a short bow.

"Oh that's right," shitty glasses said with a slight blush. "I'm…"

"You kids are too noisy," a nearby voice, barely above speaking level, seemed to penetrate the ambient noise of the classroom and forcibly dim it. Katsuki widened her eyes and she felt her hands start to sweat as the man who would become their teacher walked into the room. He was tall and thin with dishevelled black hair and he looked like he had gone for too long without a shave. Every movement of his spoke of an absolute efficiency and his facial expression revealed nothing but tired disinterest. Katsuki felt cold sweat on her neck as she realised that she was in the presence of somebody who could probably dismantle her if they ever fought.

"You've taken eight seconds to calm down," the man said, his face showing that this result was clearly unacceptable. "You're not rational enough," he continued causing Katsuki to raise an eyebrow at his standards. "I am your homeroom teacher Shota Aizawa. Get dressed into this and meet me in the courtyard," he said as he held up the U.A. blue gym clothes. With those last words he turned and left.

"Wow, he seems so uptight," Masaru remarked breaking the sudden silence in an upbeat tone. "Sorry going to have to put a rain check on that conversation," he said flashing a smile towards shitty glasses and round cheeks.

xxx

The P.E grounds of U.A were slightly underwhelming to Katsuki, at least compared to the miniature city used in the initial test. The boys and girls had changed into their P.E. uniforms and were eagerly waiting for the first test that they would receive, or maybe that was just her. Upon closer inspection there was the occasional shuffle and more than a few nervous glances at the teacher. Masaru wasn't among them however; he was talking to round cheeks, happily ignoring the atmosphere of the collective classroom and Katsuki came to the sudden, horrifying realisation that he may be including elements of the blonde bitch in his personality.

"All of you have been selected to enter U.A because your score exceeded the cut off on an arbitrary test that presented to you," the black haired man said. "Whether by powerful quirks, skills or just luck you killed a couple of autonomous machines." Aizawa took a look around before he signalled out Masaru. "Tenchi," he spoke to get his attention. "How many points do you think you would have received if the exam involved living things that were not susceptible to your powers?"

"120," Masaru answered back instantly. "I purposefully aimed for sixty points and I had the last sixty points thrust upon me, but it would definitely have taken me much longer."

"That's good," Aizawa said. "I heard you can tell whether somebody is lying or not. Is that correct?" he asked again.

"Yes," Masaru repeated with slight apprehension.

"So when I tell you that anybody who has no potential will be expelled, am I lying," Aizawa said in a perfectly calm voice sending a chill down the spine of any listeners.

"Y-y-you're telling the truth," Masaru stuttered and Katsuki scowled at his overacting.

"I am," Aizawa stated languidly. "To that end we're going to play a game. Most of you have played tag when you were younger. Well we're going to have a game with a bit of a twist. In this game all quirk usage is permitted. The person who is last to be 'it' after half an hour has transpired will be expelled."

"He's not lying," Masaru said in a shocked tone of voice causing the class to break out into chatter.

"You're being irrational again," he said in a weary voice and then he moved. If Katsuki hadn't been paying attention she would have missed it and she instinctively moved into a defensive posture in response. She needn't have bothered however. Their teacher appeared in front of that shitty glasses bastard rapping him on his chest. "You're it," the scraggly teacher said turning around and walking back to his position. "If you're tagged you can't tag the same person back. You've got twenty-nine minutes fifty seconds left to pass it on."

As soon as he said that there was an explosion of movement as everybody scattered. Katsuki also jumped back placing her eyes on the tagged one, who to his credit didn't remain tagged for long. His quirk was some sort of mutation quirk judging by the engines in his legs and it flared causing the aspiring hero to move in a burst of speed that easily allowed him to tag the next person, a blonde haired boy with a tail. Katsuki positioned herself away from everybody else retreating backwards at high speed. She watched the currently tagged person avoiding their line of sight and making herself look like an unappetizing choice whenever it appeared that somebody would come after her. All of the quirks that she saw had potential she came to the realisation after only a few minutes of close observation. While not many were as powerful as her or Masaru's quirks they still would give her trouble if she was caught unawares.

"Have you realised it," Masaru said as he appeared from her blind spot about fifteen minutes into the challenge.

"Probably not, since I have no idea what the fuck you're talking about," Katsuki answered swiftly. The game had momentarily moved away from her and some frog girl was currently tagged. Although as she said that the frog girls tongue had hit a black-haired bored looking girl with strings on her ears.

"The teacher did not exempt himself from the list of players," Masaru said and Katsuki nodded idly. She did actually notice that but she had not thought of it at the time. Who would be stupid enough to fight the teacher? He was a pro hero that no doubt had the experience of years of putting away villains. His relative anonymity didn't even work against him; instead it most likely proved he was an underground hero and part of those rumoured assassin like existences that got rid of the villains in the dark of night.

"Okay you've talked me into it," Katsuki said as she realised how extremely appealing it would be to test her mettle against that existence. Let's see if she can make the teacher expel himself. She wasn't worried about the threat from the teacher. If coming in last place would genuinely lead to her getting expelled then Masaru would have personally warned her. She didn't care why he lied to the rest of the class. It wasn't important right now. He would probably tell her later.

The running students were coming closer so Katsuki took the opportunity and moved giving a high five to a six armed student before landing on the ground and watching the students scurry away from him.

"Hey teach," Katsuki remarked to the indifferent looking Aizawa. "The only rule was that you couldn't touch the person who touched you right?"

"Correct," their teacher responded.

"Don't regret those words," Katsuki said as she bent down and slid the shoes off of her feet feeling the cool wind blow against the sweat on her feet before she placed them down on the earth. She could feel the eyes of the students on her and a smile escaped her lips. Good let them watch and see what true strength was. Crouching down she angled herself at her teach and then literally exploded into motion as the ground beneath her feet shattered due to the power of nitroglycerine. The distance between the two closed in an instant and Katsuki launched a kick backed up by a minor explosion. It never connected as the explosion fizzled. Katsuki was momentarily confused and wasn't able to dodge the counterattack. In an instant she saw the scarf that he wore unfold and in a serpentine impossible motion move to encircle her.

It never reached her as green lightning struck the fabric before the material disintegrated in front of her eyes. Leaping herself backwards she watched as the teacher followed her action. She felt Masaru at her side and she looked to see him regard her professor with some weariness.

"Eraserhead," he said warily. "A professional hero that specialises in villain takedowns, his eyes can nullify quirks."

"Good to fucking know now," Katsuki said with some slight irritation. "Any limits." Masaru shrugged a clear signal that meant that his persona was not meant to know.

"Why did you attack me when there are so many other easier options," their teacher said discarding the remnants of his scarf, seemingly unphased by the destruction of his support tool.

"I'm going to be a hero," Katsuki said. "Why would I even think of taking the easier options? Isn't this school all about that going beyond shit?"

"Are you not afraid that you'll end up expelled?" Aizawa questioned looking him up and down with that lazy look upon his face.

"Ha, ha, ha," Katsuki laughed manically. "I've known Masaru for years; I've long been able to see through his lies," she lied.

"I see," Aizawa said eying up Masaru next to him before turning his eyes back to Katsuki. He was not alone in doing so. At least half the class were giving glares at the red head and Masaru started to whistle innocently in a display that fooled absolutely nobody.

When the glares didn't cease Masaru sighed. "You should have been able to figure it out already," he said and turned towards the class, his red eyes giving him a slightly eerie glow. "He opened up his lesson decrying arbitrary selection criteria for admission into U.A and then immediately created a game whereby a person could be expelled due to being 'it' after thirty minutes. If that's not the definition of arbitrary then I don't know what is. In addition he said he would expel anybody without potential and then immediately said he would expel the person who came last. While the statements do not directly contradict each other it should have set off some bells in your head."

"You're right," a black haired girl with an elegant manner said stepping forward and accepting the slight rebuke. "As future heroes we should pay more attention to the words of others."

"How do you think we should show him how potential then," Katsuki said with an evil smile.

"You can't just attack a teacher," shitty glasses, the fun killing bastard spoke up. "That's extremely irresponsible…" His voice trailed off when their teacher raised a hand.

"That wasn't quite the end to the lesson I planned, but it would be remiss of me as a teacher if I was to pass up an opportunity to educate you about the difference in experience and training that a pro hero would have gone through in the process of becoming qualified," he said as glanced at the watch on his hand. "Seventeen minutes have transpired. You have thirteen minutes left to tag me Katsuki Bakugou. The rest of the class may assist in any capacity that they desire. Let's see how you do," he finished up with a smile that flared with false malevolence.

Instantly Katsuki darted forward. The strength of a professional hero as well as the aura that he gave out was oppressive but she had fought much, much worse. Although, she considered as her sweat failed to ignite, she had never managed to beat that much worse opponent.

Instantly reacting to her charge, her teacher took one step back grabbing her arm and using her momentum to attempt to throw her to the floor. It was only by use of her superior reflexes honed by various spars with her best friend that she was even able to land awkwardly on her feet rather than flat on her face.

She whirled around to get another shot at the nimble teacher only to get see a wall of ice rushing towards her. Not losing her cool for a moment she triggered an explosion and shattered the artic attack. The ice crystals burnt away creating a cloud of mist and she got an ominous feeling right before she felt cloth wrap her arms to her side.

"You're pretty fast," the voice of the teacher appeared by her ear and she could feel the suppression effect. "Get free of that and then come try again," he said releasing her. Angrily she noted that it had been a classmate's attack that had actually reached her instead of him and she growled in annoyance at being caught off guard. The cold of the surroundings prevented her from accumulating sweat and the fog would have prevented Masaru from seeing her and thus getting her free. Not that he would try using his lasers so close to her clothes after the last time.

She would have to get out of here herself or Izuku would tease her about being a harmless damsel for the next few weeks. Straining her muscles she felt immediate resistance as the material dug into her arms. Gritting her teeth she moved her arms feeling the cloth start to cut into her skin causing small drops of blood to appear on her arms. Despite the cold beads of sweat from the exertion and for a moment she considered burning blowing apart the restraints before she shook her head and doubled down on her strength straining her body until she could feel the blood vessels in her body.

In the end the result was quite anticlimactic. A slight tearing noise as a single thread tore gave her a few moments warning before the left side of the material tore straight through allowing her beleaguered body a momentary rest. Clicking the bones in her neck and hands and shaking out any numbness she clapped her hands setting off a minor explosion and dispersing the remaining mist.

What she walked on could be best described as the scene of a massacre. Over a dozen U.A students lay on the floor and she quickly pinched herself to verify that she hadn't fallen under some weird illusion. Of the eighteen classmates that went into the battle only three remained still standing. A boy with a mix between red and white hair, a boy with a black hawk head and Masaru were the only three that were still engaged in a fight after about a minute. Eying her fallen classmates she felt anger and annoyance course through her veins as she thought about the pathetic sight before forcing it down.

There would be time to ask Masaru about what happened later after they finished off this annoyance. To that end she employed subtlety moving swiftly but silently out of his line of sight in an attempt to tackle him. Unfortunately plans seldom survive contact with the enemy and she couldn't imagine few plans surviving this enemy in particular. Whether it was due to him hearing her footsteps or reading something on his opponent's faces he turned his head at the last moment and swivelled his body in an almost impossible manner to avoid her attack.

Not willing to relent on her attack, Katsuki Bakugou abandoned her tackle and lashed out with dozens of high-powered punches that the man barely avoided by millimetres. No matter how fast the student attack the teacher expertly avoided. The three other males became nothing but bystanders as they couldn't find any way to interfere with any of the high-powered fights, at least not without using their quirks which had suddenly proved unreliable. Suddenly the man stumbled and Katsuki was forced to re-evaluate her opinion as green lightning destroyed his foothold. The blow that she struck against him was satisfying and he drew a sharp breath as he staggered backwards, but the satisfaction soon drained out of her.

"Congratulations, you've tagged me and destroyed my backup scarf," their teacher said with a smile that seemed odd on his face. He glanced to the side to see Masaru emerging from behind the black hawk headed boy. There was a hole in his jumpsuit where he had apparently shot through it and Katsuki realised that to counter her teacher's quirk in future she may have to invest in full body costumes. But that was for later, she had bigger concerns at the present moment.

"No," she firmly rejected her teachers compliment. "You held back. You could have dodged that last punch but you deliberately received it. You took it easy on us. Do you think you can take us so lightly?"

"Hmm," their teacher sighed as he straightened himself up. "You have good insight. That will do you a world of good in your career as a hero. But today is not the day that the likes of you will beat me."

"I'm willing to try," Katsuki said and she watched out of the corner of her eye Masaru give her one thumb up. The other boys also didn't say anything but also gave their signs of approval.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Aizawa said. The next few moments were almost terrifying in their intensity. Aizawa dodged past Katsuki and charged towards the other three. The absolute beat down that he initiated was swift and while all of them put up a demonstrable defence and made a credible attempt to dodge the three still fell within five seconds.

Turning around just as Katsuki managed to overcome her surprise and catch up to him he went on the offensive and it took all of her honed skill and muscle just to hold against the overwhelming onslaught. Still the occasional blow got through and after just over a minute Katsuki hit the ground wincing in pain at the many painful bruises upon her body.

"Let this be a lesson to you," Aizawa said speaking to the dazed student. "In this world you must be aware somebody that can counter you. There is always a situation that could defeat you. And unless your name just happens to be Izuku Midoriya," he said giving off a perfect example of dramatic irony. "There is always somebody stronger than you."

xxx

"So that's the strength of a pro hero," Katsuki said as she shook of the tiredness that plagued her subsequent to her healing.

"Don't let his lax demeanour fool you," Masaru said seriously as they left the school at the end of the day. "The guy went up against Knuckles and drew. Even ignoring the usage of his quirk he's an incredibly capable opponent."

"Knuckles was your friend from your vigilante days right?" Katsuki questioned after a moment of trying to put a face to a name.

"Yeah," Masaru said and she could see him trying not to recall the embarrassment of his vigilante days. "Crap," he said with uncharacteristic profanity. "I still haven't told him about Stendahl." He glanced up and down at Katsuki's wounded condition. "You can come visit him with me after school. My mom also wanted to invite you over to dinner."

"Sure," Katsuki agreed to both, not having any pressing engagements. "Why did you lie earlier about the test?" she asked the question mildly bugging her.

"Our Teacher asked me to," Masaru said shrugging his shoulders. "It sounded like it could lead to some fun due to the added urgency of the test," he admitted. "Any overly dangerous usage of quirks and their quirks would have spluttered out. "Originally I think he just wanted to see how people could use their quirks creatively with the threat of expulsion and if their usage got to dangerous he would instantly shut their quirks off.

"Huh," Katsuki said. "That's quirk's almost half as good as mine," she said boastfully before chuckling. "Thanks for goading me into fighting him. It was pretty fun."

"I knew you would like it," Masaru admitted letting out a smile. "Although I'm not sure how much the rest of the class enjoyed it. A lot of them were defeated by their classmate's attacks; I hope there won't be any bad blood because of this."

Katsuki scowled remembering the ice that came towards her. Masaru had informed her earlier that the teacher had blitzed that stupid half face suppressing his quirk and then released it and dodged the torrent of ice. Under most circumstances she would be raging at the incompetence of the idiot but she didn't acquit herself to well in her subsequent fight either.

"Don't worry about it," Masaru said giving a reassuring smile as his eyes flashed green. "If you want another fight like that I can tell you what to say to goad Knuckles into a punch up."

And thus the two high schoolers left to go beat up a middle aged man.


	3. Chapter 3

**7 Years Earlier**

 **Izuku Midoriya Age 8**

"Dead birds on the rooftops, probably caused by global air pollution. The city isn't scared of me yet, but they will be. I have looked into its heart and seen its sins. The streets are full of villains that run unopposed by anybody but cheap corporate punch-clock heroes. Eventually the evil will rise up swallowing all the good men and women and they will look up and shout "Save us…"

"And I'll look down and say 'Sure.'"

These words were said by a young boy far away from any semblance of manhood that stood atop a high roof; his gaze sweeping over the night-time streets of Musutafu. He was dressed in a black cargo pants and a full length white shirt. That wasn't necessarily unusual and in fact could be considered stylish if it weren't for the full length red green cape with a white 8 emblazoned over it and a green mask in the shape of a sideways eight. A far off sound had its intensity amplified by the use of one of his quirks **Ground Sound** and he widened his eyes at the sound of a far off scream.

"Is this going to be my first?" Izuku Midoriya said to himself staring at his steady hands. Not a hint of nervousness permeated his body. Nervousness only came from the fear of failure, which was not an emotion the young boy had ever experienced. With not a hint of hesitation he leapt off the building. His main area of training and improvement was learning how to use and combine his various quirks to accomplish the correct goal. So instead of using **Cheer Fighters** a quirk that allowed him to fly; he used **Gravito** , a quirk that let him control gravity, to lower his personal gravity and **Window Shocking** to allow him to control wind currents. The end result was him moving with the wind in the direction of the screams.

Coming to a quick stop at the source of the noise, he leant over the side of the building before using his quirk **Wall Poster** to stand on the wall looking down into the alley. Three men stood over the body of a woman that lay in a pool of her own blood. He had no idea whether the woman was dead or alive and he silently resolved to find some quirk that detected that once he finished up with this mess.

Just as he was about to go down there and accost the three thugs he saw movement at the end of the alley and he activated **Sabotage Beam** causing what little light there was in the alley to bend around him, rendering him perfectly invisible. The man that entered was wearing a silver mask with a smile on it, with his hair jutting out from behind in a ponytail, and some dark combat clothes and wielding what looked to be a katana. The thugs instantly turned towards him and one started to speak.

"Hey if…" was all he could get out before the masked man moved at such speed that Izuku briefly wondered if he had a speed quirk before concluding otherwise. This was the kind of speed that could be gained only by harsh training. In under a second he closed the distance thrusting forward with his unsheathed katana and driving it into the heart of the closest thug with a surgeon's precision. Instantly one of the other thugs hair started growing and the tendrils started lashing about trying to get to the masked man. The other man didn't activate a quirk and instead pulled a gun on the masked man causing Izuku to briefly wonder how such a small fry had obtained it and make a note to track down whichever criminal had sold it to him once this was done so he could show his displeasure.

It was at this point that Izuku had enough and he made his displeasure well known as he used **Gravito** to increase the gravitational pull on his body and plummeted towards the gun wielding thug. The criminal with the weapon never knew what happened as Izuku landed on him like a tonne of bricks crushing him into the ground and breaking his bones before backflipping onto the ground behind him. The sudden motion caused the hair wielding criminal to flinch which resulted in the loss of his head from the agile katana wielder, but Izuku had more important things on his mind. Kneeling in the streets near the body of the young woman he quickly checked breath and pulse before activating **Marching Bad** a quirk with a restriction that allowed him to control anybody as long as they were dead. Unfortunately the corpse twitched.

Izuku sighed as the worst was confirmed. A cursory examination of the body was enough to reveal the cause of death. Dozens of stab wound filled her body but there was one in particular that had been unlucky enough to slip past the ribcage and torn apart the heart before being pulled out. The woman had bled out and suffered brain death not soon after. The scream he heard was probably her last. For the first time in his life the bitter taste of failure filled the heart of Izuku Midoriya as he wondered about the victim's story. Did she have kids or a husband that would mourn her? Was she alone and did she die unloved? Was she working for a promotion that she would never get?

 **Zero Sum Real** , his most forbidden quirk popped to the front of his mind and he for the first time was filled with the utmost desire to resurrect the woman, to see her live her life and maybe even find happiness. But ultimately he decided against it and turned away from the corpse towards the masked man who was watching him.

He ignored the masked man for the moment and the fact that his weapon had definitely not been sheathed despite the fact that none of the three were in any fighting shape. Instead he focused on the one downed criminal who had not yet been shuffled off his mortal coil and walked towards him. Desperate pleading spilled from the man's lips but Izuku had no time to hear the last words of a dead man. Pain and regret was a tool for the living to learn and improve and thus the man's life came to a sudden and painless end as Izuku lifted up his knee and drove his foot through the man's skull. Only then did he turn towards his partner in crime.

"Nice night," he said shaking off the brain matter from his foot and putting his hands in his pockets while trying to project an aura of harmlessness. While there were no doubt quirks in his arsenal which would force the other to trust him he would rather not go down that path.

"It is better now that the filth is off the streets," the masked man said gesturing to the corpses. "I noticed you on the walls earlier but you disappeared," he said leaving open a space for Izuku to respond.

"I've learnt a bit of ninja here and there," Izuku said brushing off the probing question with a useless answer.

"Regardless I hardly think that this job is suitable for a child," the masked man whose name Izuku still didn't know pressed on.

"Vigilantism isn't a job," Izuku rebutted brushing off his concern. "It's what you do when you don't believe in the power of the law."

"And you don't believe in the power of the law," the masked man said.

"Of course not," Izuku replied instantly. "The law is made and enforced by humans that are innately fallible."

"And you're not?" the man questioned and Izuku got the feeling he was looking him in the eyes.

"I'm less fallible," Izuku said a smile on his lips that didn't fit in with the blood around him.

"Why do you fight?" the man said and **Heart Break Sense Sea** activated. It was one of his least useful quirks, a constantly activated quirk that boosted his intuition but was incredibly vague. Right now he was getting the sense that this question was important, far too important to be asked in such a vague way.

"Specify," Izuku said brusquely as he analysed everything that the man said.

"You are undoubtedly strong and possess some powerful quirk if you are able to fight so effectively at a young age," the mask wearing man said loading each word full of implications before shooting them off in a carefully constructed sentence. "If you were to wait until the correct age and then apply to U.A. and become a pro hero you could likely quickly rise through the rankings. Eventually money, fame and power would be yours. Why would you risk that all by performing vigilante work, by killing these?" he said gesturing towards the corpse that Izuku had taken care of personally.

"Hmm," Izuku said contemplating the inquiry posed to him. He personally loved answering questions like these where there was no easy and clear answer that he could give. He decided that honesty would have to substitute for clarity in this particular instance. "Because evil is ugly and good is beautiful," he began speaking to the underacting mask. "Because I believe that every human should have the right to seek happiness. Because I believe that I can make the world a better place. Because I have seen the dreadful acedia that penetrates the world and I despise it. Because I want to. Because I love life. Because the murdered have friends and their death will upset them. Is that enough for you?"

Silence permeated the alley after that explanation. The man scrutinized Izuku for a moment before he extended his hand to the young child.

"Stendhal," he said giving out the name of his vigilante identity.

"Call me Lazy Eight," Izuku said taking firm grasp of the hand offered. A sharp smile appeared on his face. "I can already tell we're going to be great friends."

xxx

 **57 Years Later**

 **Izuku Midoriya Age 15**

"Hey Izuku are you okay, you look pretty out of it?" Katsuki said as the pair were walking towards the friend from his old vigilante days. Conversation had been non-existent for the past few minutes and while Katsuki didn't mind it in particular it was unusual for her friend to go for so long in silence without breaking out into one of his monologues.

"Sorry I was just thinking of happier times," the green haired boy said. "When I was younger and more innocent, before the world jaded me."

"Which happened some time slightly after you were born," Katsuki retorted sceptically.

Izuku kept quiet at that neglecting to disclose that thanks to **Memory Note** , a quirk that let him manipulate memories, he did in fact not only remember his birth but five months before he was born.

"We're coming up to his house," Izuku said changing the topic as the standard Japanese house slid into his field of view. In an instant he returned to his original appearance, having detected nobody watching. "Come on let's see if we can get Knuckles to show you a proper fight." Katsuki followed behind him as he walked into the yard and rapped his knuckles on the wood of the door. The sound of hurried footsteps from the other side of the door indicated a person approaching with some speed and in the next second the door was flung open revealing a young woman with brown hair in a ponytail and a pair of brilliant green eyes.

"Ah Tamao, can we come in?" Izuku said as he discreetly inspected the young woman. She seemed to be recovering marvellously from the recent nasty turn of events. He noticed with some trivial irritation a slight blush upon her face that spoke of the infatuation of the young. Well she was older than him in body if not in mind.

"Of course Lord Midoriya," she said offering a bow that went far past what he found acceptable.

"No need for that," Izuku said. Katsuki was giving him a strange look and he knew that his friend would rib him over this later. "Is Knuckles in?"

"He's in," Tamao Omura said, as a complex expression appeared over her face for a second before disappearing. It didn't look like their relationship was completely mended yet. Izuku supposed it must be hard to have an argument with your father and then be possessed and then be rescued by your father. Fortunately these were the kinds of wounds that time would heal. There was no need to intervene, eventually the father and daughter would reconcile.

Suddenly the very large shape of Knuckles appeared from behind his daughter. "Tamao, who is it?" he asked before saw Izuku standing there and a smile lit up his face. "Izuku," he said, his smile lighting up his face. "I haven't seen you much since you quit the business. Tamao's been looking forward to meeting the man who healed her injuries."

"It was a small thing and I was happy to help," Izuku said not lying in the slightest. He loved healing. There were relatively few moral questions in it compared to standard vigilantism. If the patient walked out in a better condition than they came in, then you did a good thing.

"Nonsense you did something that nobody else could have," Knuckles said striding forward and giving Izuku a warm clap on the shoulder. "Would you like to stay for supper today? There's more than enough for both you and your friend."

"Thanks but my mom is cooking tonight for both me and Katsuki," Izuku said gesturing backwards to his friend.

"So then why did you come over," Knuckles said gesturing them inside and to the living room where all four of them took seats. "Not that I'm complaining but ever since you've quit the vigilante business I've barely seen you."

"Stendahl is the Hero Killer," Izuku said refusing to beat around the bush. As soon as he said that the room went dead silent and he was treated by the rare sight of Knuckles with absolute shock on his features.

"What did you say?" he said and Izuku was slightly alarmed to see that Knuckle's knuckles had gone white he was gripping the sides of the couch so hard.

"Stendahl is hunting down and killing heroes," Izuku repeated. "Although he calls himself Stain now," he added almost as an afterthought.

"I should have killed him," Knuckles said and Izuku realised that he had never heard the man so angry before. As a former pro hero himself he must some respect for the people in the business, maybe even knew them. "I had him and I let him escape," Knuckles said with true frustration in his voice.

"Well then we're equal because I did the same thing," Izuku replied guiltily. Three gazes shot towards him but Izuku didn't meet them instead looking down at his knees. "Anyway," he said trying to change an uncomfortable subject. "Katsuki got her ass kicked by her teacher Aizawa today and I told her that you fought him. Do you mind giving my friend a hand?"

Knuckle's eyes immediately focused on Katsuki as he examined her form. "How strong is she," he asked Izuku. "I don't want to go overboard and hurt her."

"Can you not fucking talk about me like I'm not here," Katsuki said breaking into the conversation, her anger gloriously on display. "I'd be more worried about you."

"Great then," Knuckles said standing up with a grin on his face. H walked out of the room with Katsuki following him. "I'll be happy to test you out."

"No explosions Katsuki," Izuku said drinking from a can he had just pulled from the Ether. "I am in no mood to reconstruct Knuckle's house today."

"Fine, explosions would defeat the point of testing out my own strength," Katsuki said before following to the room and Izuku was left behind with Tamao.

"How's your eye," Izuku said trying to break the awkward silence.

"Perfect thank you," Tamao said at such a speed it was as if the words were spilling out. "It's better than perfect. Sometimes I can see small bugs from far away; it's like having another quirk." She gestured towards her left eye as she did so.

"That's good," Izuku said smiling. This girl was too uptight with him, but he couldn't really blame her. Unlike Knuckle's and Katsuki who had known him since he was younger, he had only met Tamao after the whole mystique of his existence settled in and the first act he had done upon meeting her was to restore her missing eye and fix up her brain damage. From then onwards he had received admiration verging on hero worship whenever he met her. Izuku stood up from the couch and followed Knuckles and Katsuki into the next room with Tamao following close behind him.

The room they entered into was an actual dojo. This was a pretty expensive investment for a person of Knuckle's means and Izuku resolved to ask him sometime if he had got a new job. The former pro hero and the current hero student faced each other across the dojo, neither of them having taken the time to change out of their uniforms, although Izuku did notice Katsuki's cellphone lying down by the side of the room and he stealthily acquired it to keep it from any harm.

"Any rules for this spar," Knuckles asked the younger girl as he stood in a relaxed posture, his arms crossed and his legs slightly apart.

"First one to give up," Katsuki said as she leaned forward.

"No using quirks," Izuku chimed in. "I'd rather not have to repair this house more than necessary."

Both of them nodded and then looked towards him with anticipation. His full intellect was hardly needed in determining what they wanted and so Izuku Midoriya held up three fingers before initiating a countdown. As soon as the last of his fingers dropped lunging forward with a telegraphed punch that was ditched at the last second for a kick to the side. This didn't faze Knuckles as he grabbed her foot and then turned and threw her away from him. Katsuki caught herself on her hands before flipping to her feet and then dashed towards her opponent with a blistering series of punches that Knuckles absorbed with his large forearms. He retaliated with a punch that was almost probing and she caught it in her hand, sliding backwards across the floor due to the power behind Knuckle's fist. Ducking to the side she sent a punch towards Knuckle's ribs that the larger man took without flinching before moving forward and lashing out with a punch with none of the hesitancy of the first. Katsuki barely had no time to block and took the punch straight to the gut forcing her to stumble back.

If Knuckles had hoped that this would cause Katsuki to back down, and knowing him he probably hoped none of the sort, then he would be disappointed. Katsuki absorbed the punch and came back swinging with a continuous barrage of bone crunching punches that Knuckles blocked or deflected before he drove out with an elbow that Katsuki dodged backwards before dropping to her knees and launching a kick towards his chin. Knuckles caught that in time but Katsuki used her momentum and pivoted off his hands to land another kick to his side. Knuckles moved with the kick, dropping Katsuki and taking a step back, allowing the ashen haired girl to land safely on her feet with all the grace of a cat.

"They're really fighting hard," Tamao said from Izuku's side and Izuku had to smile at the differing perspectives of the fight. From his perspective neither Katsuki nor Knuckles were using their full strength. Each seemed to be probing the other to determine how strong they were. If she was surprised now then what happened next would blow her mind. Izuku activated his quirk **Defense Layer** forming a nigh impassable barrier between over Tamao as the two charged towards each other at much greater speeds.

Two punches met in the middle and Katsuki lost the exchange and was blasted backwards by a veritable shockwave comprised of air pressure. Knuckles didn't let up and he moved forward towards the downed teenager lashing out with a kick that crushed the wooden floor on which Katsuki lay moments before. The girl had rolled away just in time and she stumbled to her feet retreating backwards from the advancing Knuckles. Another punch was voided by Katsuki who caught it on her forearm and Izuku felt a slight wind wash over him from the impact of that blow. Katsuki didn't back down moving forward past the punch and using her steel-like muscles she drove forward a punch with all her destructive strength behind it right into Knuckle's stomach.

"No, Katsuki," Izuku muttered as he saw the blow and watched as Knuckle's retaliated with a fist that caused the U.A. student to hit the deck. Knuckles had at the moment of impact moved backwards slightly, forcing Katsuki to overcommit to her punch, and he had used that brief moment to land a blow to her back that had floored the cocky explosion user. Izuku watched Katsuki try to stand but there was no way in hell that she would be able to continue.

"Knuckle's victory," he said, his voice calming the two fighters. He activated **Vinyl House Survival** , a quirk that allowed him to create houses from his mind as well as manipulate existing ones, to repair the damage in the floor and walls. Then he turned his attention towards the two fighters. Knuckles was fine, he had basically taken no damage from the punches. For Katsuki the last punch of Knuckles was the only thing she couldn't walk off. Three fractured ribs and a concussion from where her head hit the floor was not something that could be taken care of by walking it off so Izuku quickly activated **Marionette Exercise** , a quirk that allowed him to control the human body, and fused together the broken parts of his ribs and fixed the stretched and damaged brain cells.

"I can still go," Katsuki said standing up perfectly now that her injuries were healed.

"We do have places to be," Izuku said. "You remember we have to meet my mother for dinner."

"Yes, but," Katsuki said scratching the back of her head. "I just haven't had a fight like that in ages. Every time the person either crumples under a single hit or fight it's a fight against you and then it's impossible for me to win."

"Many of your new classmates would also be able to keep up with you," Izuku said. "I don't believe that there is a person in our class who could beat you one on one, but I don't think you possess the qualifications to completely look down on them either."

"Is that so," Katsuki said but she sounded contemplative. "You're not lying to me are you," she asked inspecting Izuku with a critical eye.

"I know when to tell the truth Katsuki," Izuku said waving the accusation off. "Don't worry I know a few that would almost undoubtedly be able to give you a good run.

"If you have some free time I would also enjoy a spar with you," Knuckles said grinning as he dusted off his hands. "By the way, have you had any success with that blood sample I gave you a few weeks ago?"

"Middling success," Izuku said noncommittally. "I've had a few other things that have occupied my attention and I haven't had nearly enough time to dig into it." A smirk briefly touched his lips as he realised that Katsuki was getting quite annoyed at them talking over her.

"Well that's fine," Knuckles said. "I'm sure you have much bigger things to worry about. Hey why don't you come over some time for dinner and a spar? Tamao's cooking has improved recently."

"It's not that great," Tamao said modestly. "But I would be glad to have you over Izuku." She didn't extend the invitation to Katsuki.

"I may trouble you later," Izuku said smiling. "But right now if I don't get home the food my mother has prepared would get cold."

"We certainly don't want that," Knuckles said smiling. "Go well Izuku."

"See you another time Knuckles," Izuku replied. "Come on Katsuki."

They left the house, Izuku waving goodbye to the two and changing his features as they left. The street lights of Musutafu had slowly started turning on as the sun started to creep below the horizon. There was a chill in the air and so Izuku subtly used his quirk **Window Shocking** to tone down the cold wind and his quirk **Sun Sloshing** to amplify the heat of the sun's rays.

"Are all your other friends that strong?" Katsuki questioned him as he walked down the street.

"I haven't maintained many relationships from my vigilante days," Izuku said stirring up a feeling of melancholy in his heart. "Knuckles is a rare exception. Most of my friends abandoned me when they thought I went off the deep end."

"You sound like the two of you are very good friends," Katsuki said as she looked at him.

"There are some things you just cannot go through without establishing a connection," Izuku said as he let his thoughts drift towards an empty hospital bed and a broken man and terrible accusations. That was not his finest moment and while Knuckles had later forgiven his inactivity, even apologized, Izuku had long regretted his inactivity. "By the way, what did you think of his strength?"

"He was pretty strong," Katsuki started with a smile. "But I would have won if I had used my explosions," she said defensively.

"Ha, maybe," Izuku said. She had no chance. Knuckle's easily eclipsed the strength she had gained at her young age. If he still retained his quirk he could easily take one of the top ten places. In comparison Katsuki was limited by her still developing body.

"You don't think I can," Katsuki said accusatorily pointing at him.

"Yes," Izuku responded immediately, swiftly crushing his friend's confidence.

"Well then what do I need?" Katsuki said unwilling to let the matter go. "What am I lacking?"

"Hmm," Izuku said pondering the difficult question. "Your strength is weaker and while I believe you can perhaps increase it a bit you will not reach his level before your body is fully grown. Your instincts are good but you lack the experience that he has gained over his life. Your quirk is a factor that gives you an edge. Both your movement and techniques are far inferior to his."

"Will you teach me?" Katsuki said looking into his eyes with sincerity that was quite unusual for her.

"No," Izuku shot her down immediately. "Martial Arts are something to be learned from a master and grasped with your body. I, despite my many abilities, would be an extremely poor teacher." Katsuki looked like she was going to argue and so Izuku once again interjected. "Ask Aizawa or Knuckles for help. They would certainly be able to assist. If not then we can find you another teacher at U.A."

Katsuki nodded at that and the pair fell silent for the rest of the way to Izuku's home.

xxx

The Midoriya house was quite unusual as houses went in the Musutafu region. Whereas most Japanese houses were quite small due to the general population density, the residence that Izuku had possessed large gardens and walls that blocked sight from those nosing around; although he was disappointed to find out that it didn't block rampant speculation from small-minded neighbours. The gates were large but easily opened as soon as he ran his finger past a discreet portion of the wall. There were, including him, only four people who had access to his house in that manner. The security of the house was subtle but omnipresent due to the fact that Izuku was fairly certain his mother would not approve of it.

After a short stroll towards the door of his house, Izuku paused before opening it. **Ground Sound** activated and he amplified every speck of sound in the house allowing the unmistakeable sound of two heart beats to reveal themselves. His mother didn't have a lot of friends besides the Bakugous and she didn't mention any of them staying over. A smile lit up his face before he dropped immediately.

"I'm going up to my room to get something quickly," he said turning towards Katsuki. "Can you go tell Mom that I'll be right down just now." Then without waiting for a reply he slid the door open and disappeared.

xxx

Katsuki Bakugou felt the stirring off annoyance in her heart as her friend abandoned her for some unknowable reason. Personally she felt that he was telling a lie, but even her many years of knowing the guy had not given her the ability to see through all his deceptions. Walking through the front door and closing it behind her, she walked towards the dining room. It was only a short distance to the dining room and Katsuki walked a well tread route past pictures of landscapes throughout the world, including many famous landscapes and some places that she hadn't seen before. Walking into the dining room she was surprised to see Izuku sitting one the opposite side of the table tapping against his phone.

"You obviously weren't gone for very long," she said to her now green haired friend.

"It wasn't anything major," he replied back with a small smile. "Just something that had been on my mind and I've now managed to get off it.

"Okay," Katsuki said. He was being a bit cagey about his answer, but it wasn't that unusual for him. "Any idea what supper is tonight?"

"It's Beef Bowl," Izuku answered. "Mom's been cooking it all day."

"That sounds pretty good," Katsuki said. Inko Midoriya was a ridiculously good cook by anybody's standards. Katsuki had once suggested that she open up a restaurant and while that idea had never been implemented there was still no reason to believe she couldn't easily.

"I hope it will live up to your expectations than," the aforementioned lady said as she entered into the room from the kitchen. The rich smell of their meal causing Katsuki to wipe her mouth for any possible specks of drool. "Hello Katsuki," the mature woman said. "I'm glad to see you here for supper. Is Izuku with you?"

There are some words that cause one to feel shock in their heart before they feel sinking in their stomach. Words like 'where's the baby', 'weren't there five villains' and "I can't feel my legs." Katsuki thoughts were like a whirlwind consisting of various threads of:

Denial: No it couldn't possibly be her.

Anger: If it is her I'm going to punch her very, very hard.

Bargaining: Please, please don't tell me you've switched out again.

Depression: It's that bitch in front of me, isn't it?

Acceptance: I am going to break Izuku's nose.

"You may as well show your face," she said to the person who wasn't Izuku. While she would normally attack that hateful bitch it was not a very good time to do so with Mrs. Midoriya standing in the same room. Sure enough Izuku's well familiar features melted like wax revealing a young teenager with blonde messy hair curled up into two buns and a disgusting visage, like she was intoxicated. A cute blush adorned her face but couldn't quite mask the insanity in her eyes. This familiar appearance belonged to Himiko Toga; a stray that Izuku had picked up one day and his occasional body double. She appeared to already be wearing his clothes and Katsuki was once again silently thankful that she wasn't subjected to Toga's occasional nudism.

"I thought that would last a lot longer," Izuku said as he appeared in the room without preamble.

"Sorry honey," Mrs Midoriya said apologetically. "If I'd known what was going on I would have kept quiet."

"No its fine," Izuku said. "Katsuki's face was priceless anyway."

"Izuku," Katsuki growled at him, her fists clenched at her sides. If they were alone she would have already decked him, but with present company it would lead to Mrs Midoriya getting upset and Toga probably licking up the blood and she most certainly didn't want to see that."

"So uptight Katsuki," Izuku said giving her a smile that somehow managed to be sincere and smug at the same time. "Come enjoy your beef bowl. We've been working hard and burning a lot of calories today."

"I've also been sooo busy Izuku," that bitch said, butting into the conversation. "I had to attend three events. You've been working me so hard. I think I deserve an award."

"We can discuss any bonuses to your standard pay later Himiko," Izuku said with a smile as he took his seat at the table. "Right now I just want to eat and enjoy myself."

Katsuki smiled as Himiko pouted. The woman was a love freak and focused her psychotic affections on Izuku a lot of the time. The overpowered quirk user could be surprisingly passive when he wasn't roused and Katsuki had seen him receive her 'love' a few times. However her friend would not tolerate that behaviour in front of his mother. For all his… 'Izuku-ness' he was a huge mothers boy. As she thought that a tingling on the back of her neck indicated that her best friend was glaring at her and he probably guessed what she was thinking.

"Let's eat," Mrs Midoriya said as she passed the dishes around and for the next half an hour the room was filled with both eating and conversation as Katsuki and Izuku relayed stories of their first day to their captive audience. The two of them listened attentively and Katsuki felt annoyance as the blonde bitch used news of Izuku's injuries to fawn over the green haired boy. It was annoying due to how unnecessary it was, there was minimal danger to anybody during the training exercise and no danger to Izuku in particular. Even his mother who dearly loved him didn't even display that much worry. With the kindling of annoyance in her heart; Katsuki vowed to beat up the annoyance later.

Suddenly a sudden buzzing in her left pocket indicated the presence of an alarm and Katsuki flipped open her phone checking the time before returning it to her pocket. She clapped her hand causing her hated enemy to stop fawning and Izuku to pay attention.

"I'm sorry but I'm going to have to leave now," she said. "If I stay out any later my mom might just kill me."

"Are you sure you don't want to stay over," Mrs Midoriya said. "We have plenty of room and I can talk to your mom."

"No thanks," Katsuki replied almost instantly. "I have U.A tomorrow and I would prefer to sleep in a familiar bed; maybe some other time." No mention was made of any improprietary for a male and a female to be in the same house. Izuku's mother was there and even if she wasn't the two of them had slept over multiple times in the past; sometimes in the same bed when they were younger.

"Should I walk you home," Izuku offered standing up from the chair as he did so. "Or would you like me to teleport you back."

"Neither," Katsuki refuted. "I'm perfectly capable of going home by myself. Besides if I do get captured by some ridiculously strong back-street mugger then I'm sure you can come save me."

"No mere mugger would ever be able to land a scratch against you Katsuki," Izuku said smiling at the thought and Katsuki got a warm feeling at the confidence in his voice.

"Yup you would need at least three muggers to beat her up," Toga said her voice encouraging, but somehow still managing to piss her off.

"No it would take no less than thirty-three muggers," Izuku retorted back.

"No I believe in Katsuki," Toga retorted. "It would take at least three thousand violent hardened super muggers to beat her up.

"That would require a pretty big alley," Izuku replied to Toga.

"Nothing but the biggest and darkest alley would be able to hold such a huge criminal enterprise," Toga said.

"So what you're saying is that as long as Katsuki stays away from any large, dark alleys she should be fine."

"Exactly," Toga said beaming.

"That's my limit," Katsuki said shaking her head at the pair. "I'm out."

"Let me show you out then," Izuku said as he followed her to outside gate unlocking the door as he went. Toga once more followed him like a sick puppy.

"Have a good night," Katsuki Izuku said shooting her a smile as Toga waved goodbye in the background. "Tomorrow will be a very special day. You should get a good rest."

"You too," she returned giving him a half wave before she turned around and walked into the night streets.

She was only mugged once on the way home and the guy couldn't even take a single punch.

 **Author Note: This chapter took quite a while. I'm opening up a poll for romantic pairings as to whom Izuku will end up with. Options are below:**

 **a) Fem Katsuki Bakugou**

 **B) Himiko Toga**

 **C) Ochako Uraraka**

 **D) Tsuyu Asui**

 **E) Setsuna Tokage**

 **F) Midnight**

 **G) Fem All Might**

 **H) Fem All for One**

 **I) Tomura Shigaraki**

 **J) Half of Japan (Harem Option)**

 **K) There is no poll**

 **L) That's the joke**


	4. Chapter 4

The dawning hours of the city of Musutafu were truly beautiful, or at least that was what Izuku believed. Almost universally the dawn was held up as a symbol of renewal and rebirth; a new start and all that it implied. Somewhere in the world an atomic clocked ticked from 5:59:59 to 6:00:00 and Izuku opened his eyes. He had long ago used the quirk **Watchdog Food Timer** to fully synchronize his circadian clock with the international atomic time allowing him to always fully comprehend the exact time of day. He had later discovered a quirk that allowed him to always know the time by simply closing his eyes, but refused to use it after all the work he had already put into his current setup.

Three hours of dreams flashed through his mind and he took a minute to painstakingly analyse them for any subconscious thoughts that he might have. Finding nothing except the anticipation of a new day he uncrossed his legs and stood up from the bed onto the floor. With a wave of his hand and a minor use of his quirk **Hyper String Theory** , to control the various threads that made up his bedding, and his bed was instantly made.

Standing in that position for a moment Izuku activated **Area Free** , a vague quirk that gave him a few kinds of clairvoyance, and closed his eyes as other rooms in the house flashed through his mind. In terms of vision this was not his best quirk, it was miles behind **Parasite seeing** , but **Area Free** did far less damage to his faith in humanity than **Parasite Seeing**.

The room that was normally set aside for Himiko, was occupied by the same girl who fiercely hugged her pillow while rolling around in the bed. Izuku smiled at the sight and he watched in amusement as Himiko opened her eyes warily before glancing around the room, before he severed the connection. The girl was incredibly sharp for her age with nigh impeccable instincts. Izuku had picked her up a few years ago when she had walked up to him and acted all lovey-dovey before she stabbed him in the heart. It was a strike that penetrated straight through his ribcage and the sight of her licking the blood off of the knife had been one that he still remembered today. It had been one of the few times in his life that Izuku had been genuinely baffled.

A lot of things had happened after that and it had ended by him offering Himiko a job. Still, the fact that he was her employer and benefactor did not stop her from stabbing him, whenever she got the chance, and consuming his blood. The only two rules that he had laid down regarding this practice was to ensure that she did not harm him in front of his mother and that any blood that she took was used up or properly disposed of; after a major incident a year ago caused an absolute disaster. Their relationship as a whole was complicated and Izuku was hesitant to apply a label to it although Himiko would unhesitatingly apply the label of either 'boyfriend' or 'lover', however inaccurate those labels would be. The girl possessed no house of her own and Izuku's mother allowed her to stay over with the understanding that no licentious activities would take place, although enforcement of that edict was ultimately left up to the far more capable Izuku.

Izuku switched his attention to the other person in his house, his beloved mother. She was in the kitchen but she wasn't cooking today. Instead boxes of his favourite food were stacked in the kitchen. He understood the situation immediately. Apparently his mother wanted to reward his entry to U.A. She probably didn't do this yesterday due to the fact that Himiko wasn't present. Izuku smiled at the thought and activated the quirk **Very Hungry** , a simple quirk that allowed him to generate and dim hunger. He had a system of removing any feeling of hunger until he was ready to eat and only then increasing it. Waves of hunger pains assaulted him and Izuku grinned as he felt a terrible burning in his stomach that grew. Unlike most of humanity starvation was not a thing that was able to kill him; in fact he found it would only improve the taste of his food. Izuku changed from his pyjama's to his clothes in an unbelievable time before using Alibi Block to appear right outside the kitchen.

"That smells good mom," he said as he walked into the kitchen. His mother stood amongst shiny appliances and a white tiled floor holding the boxes of pizza that had obviously just been delivered judging by the slight steam emanating from it.

"I wanted to congratulate you on making it into U.A," Izuku's mother said smiling as she put the boxes down on a counter. "So I got your favourite for breakfast."

"Pineapple pizza," Izuku said, salivating at his favourite dish, the most controversial of pizzas.

"Yes, I found a Pizza Hut in town a couple of minutes' walk," his mom said with a smile.

"Thanks mom I'll definitely check it out," Izuku said. He had actually seen it a few times but he wasn't the type to eat when alone and the rest of his fairly small circle of contacts had been rather busy with meetings, work, training and killing heroes.

"We should totally go there soon," Himiko said as she appeared behind Izuku and looped her arm around his body and leaned into him. The woman had an almost supernatural sense for where he was and he could hear her silently leaving her room as soon as she left his own. "We haven't been on a date for so long," she continued causing Izuku to sigh and his mother to smile at the pair.

"Maybe we should," Izuku said as he disappeared from her arms and reappeared on the counter next to his pizzas. "Have you seen my schedule today Himiko?"

"It's a meeting between Abnorma Link and the Nations alliance," Himiko said as she flipped open a notepad that she somehow managed to conceal in the purple nightie that she wore. "You, or more accurately I, will negotiate a deal that will provide changes in weather patterns for countries experiencing significantly extreme climates. Think they'll go for it?" Himiko asked smiling.

"They will," Izuku said. "Eventually. There will be a lot of fuss about any possible dangers to the surrounding atmosphere. There will be somebody bringing up the effects of climate change, which is out of context for this topic and there will be some subtle pressure from a few countries to submit to. All you need to do is focus on the deal and not let yourself be bogged down by any minor details and call them out on any possible amendments. Think you can do it?"

"I'll have them eating out of the palm of your hand," Himiko said with her patented blush. "Now hit me with the goods." Izuku rolled his eyes outwardly but inwardly he was grinning. Walking towards her he raised his hand only to be met by the outstretched arms of Himiko. "Not that way," she said leaning forward. "The other way," she said before slightly puckering her lips.

Izuku sighed and then leaned forward and embraced Himiko in a kiss, pouring over a dozen carefully chosen quirks into her body as he did so. Regrettably when he first tried this operation this was the only way that he could still transfer quirks and while he had learnt better ways of transferring quirks since then, Himiko refused to use them. What a clingy girl, he thought as he heard his mother giggle behind his back.

"Don't overuse them," he warned the girl who had become a close friend. "You know the limits that your body can take and I will be extremely upset if you go beyond those limits," he said sternly, perhaps excessively so, but there were extreme consequences for not obeying those limits. Almost everybody who possessed a quirk had certain biological mechanisms in their body that allowed them to use the power of their quirk with only a few people lacking the specialised bodies that allowed them to use the quirk to the fullest. For example Katsuki's body was extremely resistant against explosions and prone to sweating and the muscles in her arms and legs were naturally strengthened to deal with backlash from the explosions.

Anybody who obtained one of his quirks would not get those same biological mechanisms. From what he had observed of people only he could handle the vast number of quirks that resided inside his body. He had long since discovered that the consequence of taking on even an insignificant fraction of his quirks was dire. If Izuku were to transfer too many of his quirks to Himiko then his friend's body would explode under the strain and thus he was forced to be selective with the quantity and quality of the quirks that he bestowed.

Blushing fiercely now, Himiko grabbed a slice of pizza and took a bite of it while using her other hand to hold her cheek. Izuku decided to let her cool off and dug into his congratulations gift, eagerly feeding the insatiable monster in his stomach and his mother became the sole initiator of the conversation turning a morning meal into a pleasant chat. Himiko was the first person to finish, wolfing down her pizza to allow enough time to get to her meeting. She then walked up to her personal fridge. With a jaunty wave she left from the room and Izuku heard her move upstairs, where she was most likely changing for today. His mother had finished her meal and so Izuku took care of the leftovers cleanly finishing off the remaining slices and preventing the cardinal sin of cold pizza.

"Have fun today," his mother said smiling at him and Izuku nodded in gratitude for the meal before he snapped his fingers and Masaru was standing there in his place. He noticed his mother frown for a second at the change but it was unfortunately a necessary evil and she had long accepted it as such.

"I will," he said moving forward to embrace her, letting her know that it was still him beneath it all and she returned the hug unhesitatingly. Then with a grin he also disappeared from the room, leaving his mother alone in the house.

xxx

Izuku whistled as he walked into the classroom and took a glance around at the surrounding students. He was one of the last people here and the rest were present, talking quietly in a far more subdued mood than yesterday. A few dirty looks were sent his way, evidently a result of the trickery he employed yesterday but there weren't half as many as he expected. This class actually has a pretty good mindset from what he could see. Walking to his desk next to Katsuki he dropped his bag next to him and his elbows on his desk and his head on his palms observing all of his classmates.

He had already 'fought' beside Shoto Todoroki and Fumikage Tokoyam, although that bout against their teacher could hardly be called a true fight, and he had quite adequately got their measure. Both were competent, with powerful quirks, if a bit untrained and Izuku could see them becoming decent heroes in a couple of years once they made it through their training. Those two were probably the strongest in the class besides Katsuki. Next was Tenya Iida and Ochaco Uraraka who he had met previously on the day of the exam and briefly yesterday. Iida seemed to be fairly strong with a good quirk and a style of movement that complimented it. He was a little uptight, but then again there wasn't really anything wrong with that. Ochaco however was new to this hero business with a powerful but indirect quirk and a few clever ideas on how to utilise it. Overall he evaluated them as rough but with a spark of potential.

All of the other talents in the class were adequate, he supposed. He hadn't seen a lot from them but nobody had committed any major errors that disqualified them in his mind. It would require more time to judge them, but then again on the other hand why should he bother. It wasn't his duty to improve the strength of the class and teach them how to be real heroes.

Outside of Katsuki, none of the members of this class were his friends. He decided to leave it up to Aizawa to hone them and see whether his competence rubbed off on them. His eyes slid over the door an instant before it slid open and the subject of his thoughts entered the room. The man once again looked as if he suffering from sleep deprivation but he still moved forward in a walk that conserved every speck of energy. Unlike yesterday there was an immediate hush that followed when he entered the room and everybody adopted a state of readiness. The results of yesterday had obviously impressed on the collective students that Aizawa was not a teacher who valued inefficiency.

"You need to select a class representative," the scruffy looking teacher said as he eyed the class. His words were said with no inflection more than his usual tone but it immediately set off a plethora of reactions, mostly various people volunteering for the 'honour' of leading the class. Izuku actually had no clue why though, considering it was only an administrative position the like of which they had at every other middle school. It was a bit baffling to him and he resolved to ask Katsuki about it afterwards.

Suddenly Iida's voice cut through the general cacophony demanding silence and Izuku listened to the young man who had started to make an impression on him.

"Heavy responsibility. Ambition does not equal ability. Leader must be chosen by election," these words came from the young Tenyas mouth and gave Izuku a much better picture of his glasses wearing classmate. It was nice to see people that were so passionate about getting involved in civics. It was truly a pity about what he was going to do next.

"I vote for anybody except Katsuki Bakugou," Izuku said raising his hand and putting on his most innocent smile. For a moment there was quiet and then his childhood friend exploded rushing forward and grabbing him by the front of his shirt.

"Are you shitting me I-Masaru," she said forcibly correcting herself. "Why the fuck would you say something like that?"

"It will be anarchy in two days with you at the helm Katsuki," Masaru said with a voice that sounded far more truthful than he actually was being right now. He could see Bakugou start to boil over and so he decided to add fuel to the fire. "Quite frankly I'm sure that even I could get more votes than you."

"Watch me beat you," Katsuki said glaring down at him and Masaru could tell that he had managed to truly make her angry. She glared at him before turning down and sitting at her desk, waiting to vote and Masaru had to do his best not to smile. He could hear the murmuring that rippled through the class after that brief confrontation and he felt a surge of satisfaction at the way the scene played out. Now if everything goes according to plan…

xxx

"In your smug face Masaru," Katsuki shouted out triumphantly in the results. She had beaten him by six votes to his five. Still the two of them had edged out the other competitors by at least three votes. A smug smile hit his face and he watched with some satisfaction as Katsuki own smile faltered. Besides his own mother, she had known him for the longest and right now she must have realised that she had been played. Katsuki had always been exceptionally intelligent and she would no doubt figure out what he had done in a bit.

What he had done was to overrule the standard election set up of everyman for themselves into a two party system whereby people would vote for either him or Katsuki. This might not have worked if either of them hadn't annoyed their classmates so thoroughly in the previous few days. Those who were aggravated by the lies that he told would vote for her and those that rightfully thought that Katsuki was a jerk would vote for him. However since class selection relies on both a class president and a vice president, both of the sides had lost in the end. This is what economists call a prisoners dilemma and the method that the class used was not the correct way to resolve it.

In the meantime Masaru got the opportunity to be Vice president under his best friend, not a bad deal by any stretch of the imagination.

xxx

"And the whole thing worked out as planned," Masaru said as he leaned back in his seat, smugly sampling his rice. He was not alone in his table. Katsuki sat opposite him as usual and both Ochaco and Iida had joined them as well. Somehow, he still wasn't sure how, the two of them had become on quite good terms with Masaru.

"That's pretty shady," the brown haired gravity-negator said looking at him with a dubious look. Behind her Iida also conveyed disappointment in Masaru's somewhat circumspect way of doing things.

"I am going to punch you sometime Masaru," Katsuki said through gritted teeth clenching her fists. For once she was not shouting and it was probably because ultimately she didn't want the reason for her victory to be further spread and perhaps prompt a revote. She really didn't have to worry however; Aizawa would not indulge the classroom in what he saw as a pointless re-election. In fact despite his general lackadaisical attitude it was likely that if the people chosen were unsatisfactory then he would have not allowed the results of the vote to come to pass. Aizawa did not seem to be a man that would tolerate people who were not suited for the job.

"Hey we have Hero Basic Training next," Masaru said shamelessly changing the subject and he immediately saw the three others at his table react. By now it was common knowledge that All Might was teaching that particular class and the surrounding atmosphere amongst their class could not be more excited. All Might was venerated in Japan to a greater extent that even Izuku despite it being both of their birthplaces. Not that you would ever believe All Might was Japanese considering how American his costume and moves were. Masaru briefly wondered if the surrounding students knew that All Might regularly showed up in the top ten most popular hero lists in America as well.

"I heard from Mina that Class 1-B had already had a lesson with him," Ochaco said in a voice that was tinged with slight envy of somebody towards the person in front of them in the line.

"Well we can always go ask them," Masaru said standing up from the table leaving his empty tray. He had wolfed down his lunch with alacrity earlier and had spent the last few minutes just talking to those other three that were still talking. As he stood up he scanned the cafeteria looking for people who could possibly be part of the other hero class. Unfortunately the cafeteria was full of general students, management students and support students. He actually didn't know many of the other students; after all it was only the second day. His eyes picked one student out of the multitude that he did recognize.

Aizawa had mentioned the name of the class president of Class 1-B to him, an Itsuka Kendo, a name he had recognized as the orange haired girl who had scored sixth in the exam and Masaru had made a mental note to speak to her about various things related to the position of class president. Turning away from his table and hearing some shuffling from behind him he decided to kill two birds with one stone. Utilising nothing but a brisk walk he managed to navigate the somewhat busy cafeteria.

Itsuka didn't sit alone. With her sat a blonde haired boy with a slightly arrogant look and a blonde girl with a pair of large horns and wide eyes. With barely a pause Masaru took the fourth seat leaning back into it and was about to introduce himself when the blonde boy interrupted him.

"Is this the typical rudeness that can be expected of you Class 1-A students?" he said in a very mocking manner.

"Actually no," Masaru said back with a grin. "Most of Class 1-A students are quite polite, with the exception of Katsuki."

"Fuck you Masaru," his ashen blonde friend said catching up causing the other two students heads to whip towards her.

"It's a personal thing," Masaru continued ignoring the interruption. "I sometimes like to do these things that step over the line slightly," he said staring directly into the blonde haired boy's eyes in a manner quite uncomfortable for a person. "Shy and unused to the situation," he said gesturing towards the blonde haired girl. "Probably due to coming from outside the country. Thoughtful and considerate," he said gesturing towards Itsuka. "Hmm," Masaru said looking at him, debating whether to say what was on his mind and deciding ultimately that he didn't want a fight to day.

"Masaru Tenchi," he said, turning away from the blonde boy and looking at the two females.

"Wait, don't ignore me 1-A Trash," the boy whose name he still didn't know called out to him and that set Katsuki off.

"Who the hell are you calling trash, trash!" Katsuki yelled at the boy and Masaru almost sighed in irritation. 'Don't stoop to his level Katsuki,' was what he wanted to say but unlike his best friend he knew how to pick his battles.

"Itsuka Kendo," the orange haired girl said politely as she switched attention between the swiftly developing argument and Masaru.

"Pony Tsunotori," the girl with horns said and Masaru immediately managed to place his accent.

"You come from America right?" he said in perfect English getting a confirmation nod as the girl's eyes lit up.

"Do you speak English," she said focusing on him.

"No, I'm afraid that I don't speak a word of that tongue?" Masaru said, still speaking English before turning towards Katsuki. "Hey Katsuki how well can you speak English?"

"I'm not doing this Masaru," Katsuki said, flat out denying him in the same language. "I know you thrive on chaos but quite frankly I have no desire to get into a fucking comedy skit right now."

Their banter was broken by the laughter from the two other girls at the table and Ochaco who had caught up to them now. Iida and the blonde guy remained stoic although Masaru could swear that he saw a trace of mirth from the usually stoic Iida.

"Nice to meet you Masaru," Itsuka said smiling back at him. "We might have to conscript you to help with Pony's language someday."

"It would be a pleasure to be press-ganged," Masaru replied. Despite his short interaction with them he judged that they would be able to get along. Maybe not with the other guy though, with whom Katsuki had already managed to be drawn into an argument again.

"Anyway we're from Class 1-A and we have Hero Basic Training next," Masaru said.

"With All Might?" Itsuka asked, to which Masaru nodded immediately.

"Jumping right to the heart of it," he said. "We just wanted to know how the session was; so that we can be more prepared of course."

"Of course," Itsuka said as she grinned at him. "Well as much as I would love to enlighten you I think it would be much more effective for you to find out on your own. I wouldn't want to affect All Might's lesson."

"So cruel," Masaru said but there was no heat in his words. Just then the bell rang out indicating that the time for food to be eaten had drawn to a close.

"Well I should probably stop that," Itsuka said gesturing to the two arguing blondes.

"I'm actually finding it quite fun to watch," Masaru admitted as he locked his full attention on the two who looked to be seconds away from coming to blows. By that he meant that Katsuki was going to punch the blonde boy in the next few seconds. "Maybe just hold on a bit?"

"Be that as it may I'm still the class president and have to set an example," Itsuka said only for Masaru to hold up a finger pointing towards his friend.

"That's our class president," he said with no inflection in his tone.

"Really," Itsuka said and there was silence while the two girls digested the statement.

"Yup," Masaru said. "If you ask me the only reason she won…" and it was at this point that he was gripped in a headlock.

"Stop stirring up shit until our lesson with All Might is over," she said and began to physically drag him away.

"Bye, it was nice meeting you," Masaru said waving back to the two girls.

"It was certainly an experience," Itsuka said diplomatically, but she didn't look unhappy about their conversation.

"Nice to meet you," Pony said in much accented Japanese and that was the last he heard from them before he was dragged out of the room.

xxx

"I have come through the door like a normal person," All Might said as he did anything but. His entrance was as bombastic as to be expected from the number one pro hero. Well the Japanese number one pro hero at least. The heroic society for Japan was ridiculously insular and even many of the students who attended this school would likely not have heard of more than a handful of foreign heroes. Masaru did not exclude Katsuki from this assessment. She, and she never would admit this, was an All Might fan through and through.

"Battle Training," All Might said and the words had barely left his mouth before Masaru was whipping his head around towards Katsuki. The young girl wore a feral smile that spoke of far more viciousness than was strictly healthy. That wasn't the only pleasant surprise as with a single gesture from the caped hero, rows of shelves containing numbered cabinets slid out from the wall. "Looking very good is important," All Might said with his trademark smile and Masaru felt a tinge of cynical annoyance before he forced it down.

His number was notably absent from the lockers. His chosen quirk was both absolute in its power and its limits. Unless he was to get technical, to the extent that he paid a personal visit to the support department, no improvements could be made on his quirk. Thus he decided to focus on something that he personally found important, namely getting something with pockets that could store a lot of room, could hide his hand movements and something that looked cool. In other words he took the Knuckles school of dress and got himself a trench coat that would cause the most hard-boiled PI to turn green in envy. Pitch black with an upturned collar that covered his neck with a grey shirt beneath it with black jeans and black boots. The only hero-ish portion of his costume was the blank white mask that covered his face with black transparent eyeholes.

None of his costume was appreciated by his mother or his stunt double. Inko had called his costume creepy and unsettling and Himiko had said that he looked villainous. They were probably right. Making costumes that looked good was never his forte as evidenced by the various memes that still mocked his original costume. Still few heroes stuck with the costume they started with and he was well prepared to change his look down the line if it became necessary; that is if he was still a hero by then.

Masaru moved quickly, like clockwork as he swiftly adorned his new vestments before he lifted up the final piece of his outfit. Putting on a mask was always a fun thing to do. Masks made it far easier to compartmentalize. Even flimsy eight shaped masks, like the one that he used to wear, made it easier to put on an act, to exaggerate certain aspects of his personality and downplay the others. That was the advantage of a mask. He wondered who the hero behind this mask would turn out be.

Ceasing his musing he donned the mask and proceeded to the testing area that was apparently called Ground Beta. An urban area complete with streets and tall buildings greeted him, a scene that could be witnessed on every walk home. Masaru was contemplating the money that went into the construction as the last of the group arrived and he briefly scanned the surrounding students, noting that his costume was probably the worst.

"Are you ready?" All Might said not waiting, and not needing to wait for an answer. The class was like a live wire ready and willing to discharge their energy and their battle spirit was fanned only higher by the flamboyant, energetic legend in front of them.

"Most of the shown battles against villains occur indoors, but most of the more dangerous criminals lurk indoors," said All Might and Masaru could agree from his own experience. Not that he would classify many of the criminals that he fought as dangerous. His most dangerous opponent to this date fought him outdoors in the open, but he didn't want to think on that guy right now.

"You will be split into hero and villain teams," All Might's simple words cut through Masaru's recollections and he once more focused on his teacher. "And face off in two by two battles." The questions came hard and fast after that and Masaru listened casually as All Might laid out the rules.

They were to be assigned battle partners and then divided into a team of villains and heroes. The villains were stationed inside the building with a nuclear weapon that they had to protect from the heroes or alternately capture them. The heroes were outside and had to infiltrate the building and secure the bomb or capture the heroes. Basically the two teams were playing the world's most destructive version of Counter Strike.

"Are there any medics standing by," Masaru said looking dead on at All Might.

"Do not worry young Tenchi," All Might said flashing a grin. "I will personally intervene before anybody gets hurt and any injuries will be taken care of by Recovery Girl.

That wasn't what he asked but Masaru just nodded. All Might was surprisingly reckless for a pro hero. If he was running it he probably would have overcompensated with medical attention but he was obviously not the expert here. The lots were drawn and Masaru got a pleasant surprise.

"Katsuki," he said giving a high five to his partner. "Yeah we're going to dominate the competition now."

"Yeah," Katsuki said as she looked at his blank mask giving him an inquiring look. "Yeah we are," she said as she narrowed her eyes. She obviously believed that he had manipulated the draw in order for them to partner up and nothing that he could have said in these few seconds could have convinced her otherwise.

"Come on Katsuki show some enthusiasm," he said smiling but she obviously couldn't see through the mask. "Team A for awesome."

"And the first two teams up," All might said. "Team A as the villains and team E as the heroes."

"Oh wow," Masaru said as he turned his head towards the team of Tenya Iida and Shoto Todoroki. Both of them part of hero families since the day they were born. Both of them well trained with good quirks. "Maybe this won't be as easy after all," he said as he watched a vicious smile form on the face of his best friend.


	5. Chapter 5

Katsuki Bakugou stretched her arms experimentally feeling the unfamiliar weights on her arms. Two bracers attached to her arms that stockpiled her sweat as she moved allowing her to store and release potential explosions at will. She had attempted to do the same kind of thing with her feet but had ultimately failed by the time of the lesson and chosen in the end to go barefoot until she could pay a visit to the support department. Izuku had long ago sold her on a style similar to that of Gran Torino where she used explosions on the bottom of her feet and her palms to move explosively in a three dimensional manner that was very hard for others tto deal with. Or so she was told by Izuku as sadly he was the only person she really properly fought with and her movement had little effect on him.

Her best friend leaned against a pillar to her side in his new hero costume looking like a private investigator who had a psychotic break. It was a truly awful display of just how bad Izuku's sense of fashion was. His mask gave nothing away and his body was frozen in deathly stillness. It was frankly unnerving and Katsuki could see it freaking out a lot of criminals.

"Any plans," she said to her friend. She wasn't a dumbass but Masaru had carried a lot of Izuku's mind and that was not something that she could compare to.

"Todoroki has both pyrokinesis and cryokinesis but he seems to use only ice, which is fired from his right side," Masaru began speaking; his words crystal clear even through his mask. "Iida has jets on his legs allowing for super speed. But you already know all of this."

"So no plan," Katsuki said trying to get a feel for their situation.

"If I had a plan, would you follow it?" Masaru asked flatly. "You've clearly had an eye on that Todoroki. His powers over ice will make it harder for you to sweat thereby dampening your explosion making him one of the best counters to you. In addition his pyrokinesis probably gives his skin some resistance against the flames of your explosion. If we work together we can set traps and ambush them one by one practically ensuring our victory. Using your explosions and my matter erasure we can deny the heroes any chance to get near us or the bomb. Yet have any of my words dissuaded you from challenging him?"

"No," she admitted. On the contrary his words only served to excite her. Besides the irritation she felt with the two-faced prick due to his errant ice blasts yesterday she had the feeling that the Todoroki would provide her with a good match. Her battle with Knuckles yesterday had properly stoked her appetite. She had been outclassed physically and she had ultimately suffered a loss but she had at least managed to react and actually fight against him instead of the automatic loss she would suffer against Izuku, with its length adjusted for how long he decided to keep fighting and how much of a handicap he imposed on himself.

"Can you handle that glasses bastard," Katsuki asked although she hardly needed to bother. Masaru Tenchi despite his fool-proof disguise was still actually Izuku fucking Midoriya. If he decided to win then he would win, no matter the opposition. The question was whether he would decide to win.

"Worry about your own battles," Masaru said as he straightened up from his position leaning against the pillar. "It's now ten seconds until they enter. Be ready."

His warning was barely in time as a sudden chill flooded the room. With a thought her sweat ignited and she thrust out an arm creating a devastating explosion in front of her that pushed against the incoming wave of ice. For a brief moment the two forces of flame and ice battled against each other before the force of her nitro-glycerine reinforced punch tore through the ice crushing the walls in front of her causing the whole building to shake.

Adrenaline coursed through her body and she almost shivered in excitement. Turning back she saw Masaru as relaxed as ever sitting against the bomb. Around him and the bomb for about six metres the air and floor was clear of ice and he showed no signs of moving.

"Heh," a snicker past his lips and his mouth curled up into an evil smile. "Hahahaaha," Masaru's villainous laughter resounded throughout the corridors of the building and Katsuki almost hung her head in shame knowing what was going to happen next. "Those foolish heroes," he said in a voice that sounded almost disappointing. "Really all these worms crawling out of the woodwork of a sudden; I guess we'll have to put them back in the ground."

"Please don't do that," Katsuki said but internally she had no hope. Her companion had been given the opportunity to ham it up as an absolute villain and he seemed to be angling for something between cackling mastermind and smug schemer; or at least a poor impression of the two archetypes. "I'm going to go beat up Two Face now," Katsuki said. "Just you do whatever."

Moving swiftly down the stairs she was once again confronted with walls of solid ice but she barely slowed down before she thrust out her fist causing her sweat to ignite an explosion to tear the obstruction to pieces. She felt the cold against her skin and she moved her body faster causing more sweat to flow from her pores despite the cold. Her movements increased in intensity as she turned her stamina into sweat and into explosions, tearing apart all the ice before she burst through to the first floor in a wave of flame that just caused her to sweat more fiercely and kept her body temperature suitably elevated.

From the smoke and flame a wall of ice extended as swift as a snake towards her location and she whipped her hand forward melting and pulverising the encroaching ice before she followed through with a series of punches each one tipped with an explosion that split apart the oncoming river of ice and eventually buried the room within a sea of flames.

The smoke faded to reveal the form of Two Face protected by a dome of ice. Shitty Glasses wasn't with him and Katsuki got the feeling that the guy would probably run into Masaru soon enough. That wasn't her concern however as with no movement from her opponent the floor turned to ice and Katsuki jumped backwards to avoid the frozen floor before igniting the sweat on her feet and flying towards Two Face. Another wall went up in the cramped confines of the room but Katsuki span and with both hands full of sweat she created a firestorm that tore through the ice wall leaving behind a cloud of steam. Slipping through the clouds of steam she moved forward lashing out a punch that clipped the side of his opponent who obviously wasn't able to dodge as well as her.

Her respect for Two Face rose as her opponent lashed out with his hand in return and she felt the air grow colder. Every inch the palm moved towards her dropped the temperature and she instinctively realised that if she was hit by that then she would be frozen. So she dodged; a simple step to the right over the frozen floor. Even so despite her speed his hand grazed her arm for a moment and she felt ice creep up the side of her limb. That was rectifiable and she drove her fist into the forming ice shattering it without even using her explosions. Without a pause she lunged forward igniting a small bit of her sweat and pushing herself in for another punch to the gut.

She chose not to ignite her sweat as she lashed out, due to her general predilection against murder and as a result the only effect that her punch had was to send him flying backwards through the outside wall. Rubbing her arms to warm up her skin she followed him through the now partially destroyed wall to see him struggle to his feet. She was almost forced to give him proper respect at this point; while he may be an inaccurate ice-slinging prick, he was damn tough. A punch like that would have instantly put a normal man down; it might even have staggered Knuckles.

Still as he got to his feet he was noticeably slower than usual. His breath caused fog to form from his mouth and she even noticed him start to shiver causing disappointment to wash over her. Quirk backlash was something that she had never experienced as the only effects of overusing her quirk was that she lost sweat, as such she still only be considered herself to be warming up. Izuku also didn't suffer from quirk backlash as well; otherwise he probably would have exploded and taken out Japan by now.

Still his body become too cold would likely easily be solved by using his fire. If he used both his effective stamina would at least double, but he seemed to be adverse to it for some unknown reason. Another wave of ice was shot at her but she could see that the power and speed behind it was lacking compared to the previous ones. Sighing she dodged to the left casually watching as the frost slowly accumulated on her opponents right side.

"Use your fire," she said staring into the eyes of her adversary. The response was inelegant and resulted in two waves of the same ice wave hemming her in. Landing solidly on her feet she thrust forward her hands balled into fists crunching into the destructive torrents of ice and forcing her to slide back a few steps. The ice obstructed her vision of the incoming Todoroki although he was noticeably slower than her now and it was almost child's play for her to dodge. In response she chose to lash out with a kick that impacted against his other arm before twisting her body and letting fly with her other foot in a blow that caused him to go flying until he forcibly stopped himself with his own ice and came to a sudden painful stop.

"Use your fire," Katsuki repeated tonelessly. This opponent was really starting to piss him off. "You're strong, but you grow weaker with every exertion. This isn't even fun anymore."

"I refuse to use my left side," the Two Faced bastard said and Katsuki officially lost her shit.

"Fucking fine then," she bit out. "If you so like handicapping yourself so much then I'll beat you to death without my fucking quirk."

She stepped forward menacingly and once more those mobile glaciers advanced on her position. At least this idiot had some capacity to learn it seems. Every close quarters fight had come out with her as the ultimate victor and while she could admit to being impressed with his speed initially it had noticeably dropped over time, to the extent that she was no longer concerned with his movements. Lunging forward swiftly she dodged two of the lines of ice that came towards her and vaulted over the third one and started running over the icy construct. Every single step of hers was precisely calculated to deal with the slipperiness of the icy ground and she found herself taking some small enjoyment in the showdown despite her utmost irritation with her opponent.

She was barely ten metres away when an unavoidable wave of ice sprouted from the hand of her opponent in the shape of an expanding sphere, but she chose not to waver. Instead she briefly crouched down before launching herself with explosive power towards that sandbagging prick. Her body was like a spring and she converted every inch of that potential energy to kinetic as she launched herself at the expanding iceberg. Tendons and ligaments in arms and legs that were born adapted to the recoil from explosions nearly stretched to breaking under the released power that for that moment rivalled and surpassed the vast majority of quirk users with pure strength quirks.

Fist met hard ice and the ice held for less than a second before splintering and moments later she managed to strike that bastard in the stomach. She chose to deliberately pulll her punch before she accidentally sent him to the morgue rather than the hospital. Even so she felt her fingers fracture slightly under the strain that her hands couldn't handle, and she made a mental note to speak to recover girl about it afterwards. However the immediate effect was nothing less than she expected and Todoroki hit the ground like a sack of shit.

"You're done?" Masaru asked as he walked down the stairs carrying the unconscious form of Shitty Glassess over his shoulder.

"Yes," Katsuki said feeling nothing but bitter disappointment. According to her friend this guy was probably the strongest in the class and if he kept handicapping himself like this then he would never be able to defeat her. "How did your fight go?" she asked him.

"I had the high ground," Masaru said and Katsuki groaned at the poor joke. Her knowledge of Star Wars was spotty and she mainly knew the series due to the various references that the green haired friend of her made and the various names around town that referenced the set of movies.

"No seriously what happened," Katsuki said shaking her head.

"I caught him at the bottom of the stairs and he tried to catch me off guard with his speed but I had filed down the stairs so that each one was at a different angle and height," Masaru said in response. "The poor guy barely made it halfway up before he stumbled and then I hit him."

It was said so casually but his words couldn't disguise the massive bruise on the cheek of Shitty Glasses. It wasn't easy to knock somebody out in a single punch and it seemed that even in the persona of Masaru, Izuku's control over the precise application of force far exceeded her own.

xxx

Tenya Iida was not having the best day by any stretch of the imagination. Twice he had lost to Masaru in the very same day, first in the vote in order to become student president and now in a straight up fight he had lost. No, to say that he had lost was too tame a phrase; he had been demolished by the red-headed teenager. The entire fight consisted of him charging up the stairs and then losing grip on the uneven surface and then slipping before he was greeted with sudden unconsciousness. It was only when he woke up that he was informed that Masaru had struck him when he was off balance with only a aching along his jaw as a testament to his defeat.

Disappointment coursed through his veins at his performance as dozens of things he could have done differently played themselves out in his mind. He could have circled around the building and found another set of stairs. He could have advanced more slowly. He could have…

"Hey," a casual yet familiar voice called out to him and he turned to see the form of the one person he really didn't want to see here. Dressed in the standard male uniform he stood quite a bit shorter than Iida and his eyes always appeared to be half closed as if he wasn't fully paying attention. In fact his entire being gave off a lazy confidence and mischief and despite that he still managed to beat… no, crush him when they fought.

"Congratulations, on your victory," Iida said. While he had was still irritated with the red-haired trickster due to his manipulations earlier it had nothing to do with his loss right now. Despite his deceitful style, his opponent was simply the better man.

"Do you know what your mistake was?" Masaru asked leaning against the nearby wall. The other teams were still competing but Iida couldn't quite bring himself to watch the other teams.

"I didn't observe my surroundings," Iida said. "I should have watched the stairs, taken it a bit slower and expected a trap." He stopped speaking as Masaru opened his eyes fully and the red orbs focused directly onto his own.

"You underestimated me," Masaru said. There was no judgement or even irritation in his voice. "Do you know that I think you are probably one of the strongest prospective heroes in the class?" he continued in a voice that was low enough that only Iida could hear it. "You and the Todoroki are in the extremely rare position of being from a family of pro heroes and that gives you both an edge over the rest of the students. Unfortunately that advantage has come with a subtle arrogance. Carve my words into your mind Iida," Masaru said and for a moment he seemed completely different. "There are many stronger than you in the world but you must realise that even the weak are not so helpless. Sometimes they are more dangerous because they are simply forced to be. The graves of this world are full of people who charged in blindly."

"Y-yes," Iida said stumbling over his words slightly. The intensity of his classmates gaze had surprised him and he saw a new side to Masaru that he didn't see before.

"You also lost because you were indoors and you couldn't use your full manoeuvrability," Masaru said and he had fully reverted back to his usual lidded gaze. "I would be glad to spar with you in the open sometime although I probably won't stand a chance."

"I think you will do a lot better than you give yourself credit for," Iida responded immediately.

"Now you're getting better at this business," Masaru said smiling. He slowly collapsed to the floor and turned his head towards the screens showing the heroes and villains against each other. A team comprising of Yaoyorozu and Tokoyami had just effortlessly defended their bomb.

"So are you and Bakugou friends from middle school?" Iida said trying to make idle conversation. The duo seemed to be far too familiar with each other to be recent acquaintances and in addition they worked quite well together.

"Ha," Masaru said and Iida watched as a fond smile etched itself on his face. "We've known each long before that. It was basically a friendship out of an anime. She punched me and I punched her back and we became friends," laughter escaped his lips and his face was filled with nostalgia at what Iida could only assume were happy memories.

"Are you laughing about me?" Bakugou said as she swiftly appeared. She looked suspiciously at Iida before dismissing him and focusing on Masaru. She clutched her right hand awkwardly against her stomach and Iida briefly debated asking her about it before deciding not to pry

"I was just telling Iida about the day we met," Masaru said. "Remember the punch up we got into?"

"You got sent to the principal's office," Bakugou said with a smile; a facial expression that looked rather unusual on the girl's face.

"And you got sent after me moments later for calling the teacher a sexist bitch," Masaru said taking in a lungful of air as he chuckled to himself.

"She was though," Bakugou said, defending her words. "That backwards old prune should have spent more time finding a husband of her own and less time worrying about everybody else's shit."

"I'm telling you she has grandchildren by now," Masaru said. His laughter had died down but there was still a large smile on his face.

"And I still refuse to believe that any man would put up with that type of bullshit," Bakugou said crossing her arms. The look on Masaru's face at that moment said a lot of things but not many that could be said aloud, especially with Bakugou standing there almost daring him to open his mouth. Masaru shot Iida a deadpan look but the youngest Tenya was smart enough not to get caught up in this sort of thing. In the end the red-head resorted to shaking his head.

"Oh look I think All Might is going to wrap up the class," Masaru said changing the subject with all the subtlety of a train jumping its tracks. "Let's not revisit this topic any time soon," as he stood up to go gather around their teacher. Bakugou frowned at his words but soon followed the rest of the class who were gathering around the caped legend.

"Well done everybody," All Might said hands on hips and upright, his smile beaming proudly at the class. "The majority of you managed to put up a good showing and while some of you may have not been able to display your full potential…" All Might didn't single him out at all and still Iida felt a flush of shame. He didn't watch many of the other matches but he found it hard to believe that anybody would have done as poorly as him. "There will be other days," All Might said raising his hand towards the sky. "If you've lost then learn from your opponents and from your own mistakes. This is only the start of your schooling. The people who came on top today might not be the same people who will come out on top a year, two years or even three years from now. Do not concern yourself about those who are stronger then you now. Plus Ultra means to surpass the current you of today. Right it's time to go back before your next lesson, if anybody has any questions or requires any advice then I will be available now and during breaks."

The speech trailed off from an inspirational speech to more practical information and the famous pro hero was immediately surrounded by the members of the class asking all manner of questions. Even the sullen Bakugou was standing amidst the crowd just at the outskirts evidently wanting to join in. Masaru was one of the few who didn't participate in the questioning and he stood apart from the rest of the class. That was good as Iida suddenly found he had something to say to him.

"Which day should we arrange that spar?" Iida asked and Masaru shrugged.

"My schedule is always pretty open," Masaru said. "I'll see if I can find a teacher to supervise, and then I'll tell you the day. Any time in particular is good for you."

"My schedule isn't important," Iida said. "I hope you don't mind but from now on I'm going to make you my arch-rival," Iida said reaching out with his hand and after a moment Izuku took it in his own.

"Interesting," Masaru said focusing those scarlet orbs on his own again. "Why me, may I ask? There are many stronger than me, Katsuki or Todoroki for one."

"I have a feeling that you're still a lot stronger than you're pretending to be," Iida said with certainty. His fall on the stairs and subsequent knockout blow was not just a matter of luck or an amateur's handiwork. Besides the feeling that Masaru gave off was different from any other person his age. While he couldn't fully describe his reaction the youngest member of the Tenya family would truly fear facing off against Masaru if he ever became a villain.

"Interesting," Masaru said withdrawing his hand from Iida's grasp. "See you around Iida," he said before turning around and leaving the battle area. Iida just watched him go and then joined the queue to try and get his own advice from All Might.

xxx

There was still fifteen minutes left before start of the next lesson, Literature with Cementoss, and the majority of the class had stayed behind to talk to All Might giving him the perfect amount of time in order to investigate the bad feelings that he had been feeling for the past few minutes. **Heart Break Sea Sense** was the quirk of the moment and it was a quirk that Izuku hated even in his Masaru form. Its nonsensical name aside all that the quirk did was give him an extraordinary intuition. While it would help him if he was looking for something in particular and he needed to start making guesses it was just annoying when he knew that something was wrong, knew there was some danger that was on the verge of materialising and couldn't quite grasp what it was.

Sighing in annoyance Izuku activated one of his most powerful skills that he refused to use without a good reason, **Manual Memory** was quite frankly the ability to know the answer to any question asked. In reality there were quite a few more restrictions to tone down the absolute omniscience that the quirk could potentially give him but for this situation it should be more than enough. Ducking into a nearby bathroom, that was absurdly well decorated for a school; he scanned the room for any signs of life before turning to the mirror that sat above a row of marble taps he inspected his restriction focusing his eyes on the familiar visage.

"What is the source of the disturbance on campus," he said watching as the eyes of his reflection morphed to a dull green.

"Something came through the west fence," the reflection said tonelessly.

"Something, not someone," he queried his reflection but no further explanation was offered and he got the explicit feeling that no amount of probing would get him a more detailed answer. The eyes of the reflection turned red as he turned away from the reflective surface.

The west fence was relatively close to his location and after almost no consideration he headed towards that area, slipping out of the school and onto the grounds that surrounded the fields trying not to stand out or attract any undue attention. Walking swiftly across the perimeter he soon came across something that was certainly out of the usual. A small portion of the thick, reinforced U.A wall had completely disappeared. The breach was only about a foot wide and high but the fact that the wall had disappeared so silently caused him to grow quite suspicious. It was a very real possibility that the perpetrator of this breach had abilities similar to that of Masaru Tenchi but they might not be so similarly limited. He subsequently sped up his investigation out of a real desire not to get caught here and blamed for the damage to the wall.

Leading out from the wall were minor tracks that wouldn't be seen by anybody who was not specifically looking for them. Looking like nothing but small holes in the ground it was a certainty that no human made them, well almost a certainty considering the variety of quirks nowadays.

"I set off on my investigation hoping to find some evidence of a looming threat and I was not disappointed," Masaru muttered to himself. "I would have preferred to be disappointed." A quick glance at his mental clock revealed he had nine minutes before the lesson and so he took off at great speed following the tracks over the grounds. Thankfully classes were empty and he was able to swiftly traverse the U.A Campus until he came to the Administration building. The tracks didn't come to a stop at the wall but continued upwards leaving barely noticeable cracks in the paint that continued up until reached a closed window on the second floor.

The Administration Building was never empty unfortunately and even without entering it he could see movement from inside the structure Frowning Masaru realised that he would never be able to infiltrate the Administration Building, not as Masaru anyway. Moving away from the building he slipped out of sight and behind a nearby tree.

" **Needs Paper** ," he said to himself. For some reason some skills worked far better if their names were spoken out loud. This was one of those skills and the spoken method worked well as he was instantly greeted by an identical doppelganger of himself.

"Class starts in six minutes," he informed helpfully.

"Jerk," his doppelganger replied before turning and sprinting back towards the main classroom, his words eliciting a chuckle from the now green haired boy.

The impossible task for Masaru turned out to be trivial for Izuku. Using a plethora of quirks he became a ninja stealthily infiltrating the building via the same window and slipping into the same room. The trail became much harder to spot on the cold white tiles but it was by no means an insurmountable challenge. Moving invisibly through the halls of the building he followed the tracks to a door and immediately used **Alibi Block** to appear inside the room.

The room that he arrived in was a simple computer room containing half a dozen computers. The room was cold under the persistent air-conditioning and devoid of people that otherwise were scattered throughout the building. Only one of the computers were operating displaying a programme that at a glance Izuku guessed was used to upload local files to an undisclosed location. A slight scratching came from a corner that would have gone unheard by anybody with worse hearing and Izuku came to the startling realisation that he wasn't alone. His instincts flared and he felt eyes on him despite his persistent invisibility but he deliberately ignored the source for a moment as he walked up to the computer and saw that unlike the others it had a specific flash drive bearing the initials of DIM. The initials that belonged to somebody who shouldn't even be in this country.

Reaching forward to touch the drive it he had less than a seconds warning as with the sound of scraping metal something launched itself at his back. Metal crunched as he whirled around digging his hands into a robotic steel spider. The materials were impressively resistant as the force that he used to catch the contraption would have sheared right through any of the training robots used by U.A. Robotic spider legs extended at the speed of sound towards him but Izuku showed no mercy as he retained his grip with one hand and tore through all eight of the legs with the other.

Another DIM symbol on the bottom of the robot was enough to get Izuku to take the situation seriously. In the very next second he obliterated the robot refusing to take any more chances with the advanced equipment. While it probably wouldn't be able to do any damage to him; he wouldn't put it past the creator to have installed a self-destruct powerful enough to take out the building.

Reaching out with his hand he extracted the flash drive from the computer before using **Magnet Streamer** to completely wipe the hard drive of any remaining software. U.A should have backups and it was better to be safe than sorry when dealing with Deus In Machina. Hearing some approaching voices and still not dropping his invisibility he held up the crushed robot and the flash drive and then vanished from the room.


	6. Chapter 6

Of all the companies, and there were a few, that Izuku Midoriya owned Nitro Labs was both his favourite and his least profitable. A subsidiary of Valley Industries, the company was only used for research purposes and only about of the third of research conducted actually transitioned into viable projects. If somebody capable were to undertake an audit of the company they would find that there were large expenses for research equipment each year that while valid could not be found and a disproportionately small number of staff compared to the total size of the operation. They might speculate that he would be participating in numerous illegal activities but they would be wrong, beside maybe a bit of tax fraud and no government never looked to closely at his taxes anyway considering his normal status was a legal nightmare.

The reason for these expenses was Izuku's hidden lab, a structure that was his secret pride and joy. In fact his pride and joy was so secret that even Himiko had never seen it. The entrance was below the Japanese headquarters of Valley Industries situated in Musutafu. To even enter it somebody had to have the key to the second basement level and be able to disable the alarm system that was keyed to a password only he knew. The security at Valley Industries was no joke, the building was originally owned by a professional hero as their headquarters but when they moved buildings three years ago they offered to sell it to him at a dirt cheap rate and he had only upgraded the security since then.

Cold fluorescent bulbs illuminated walls of steel and spotless white tiles. In fact not one speck of dust could be seen in the entire room, a testament to the hygienic standards that should be expected among a place where one conducts science. Dozens of cutting edge machines were red power by a generator that was located in the centre of the complex. Only a couple of the rooms were actually lit up at the moment and each of the rooms had one thing in common, their occupant was a single green haired child adorned in a white lab coat. Sitting watching the machines, reading screens, or inspecting vials of unknown substances; every single one of them was engaged in research and all of it pertained to a thoroughly dissected robotic creation.

"Some form of Lithium-uranium battery," one of the Izuku's said sitting at his desk in the office as he held screen readouts of his research. "An unknown steel carbon compound for the outer shell and carbon nanotubes for the wiring," he continued, finishing his perusal of the automated robot and putting down the sheet. "Really impressive," he said, but the words reeked of understatement. "Incredibly deadly," the words were closer but not quite correct. "Viciously effective," he said looking again at the loadouts.

Many of its systems were damaged by him when he had crushed it but he wasn't as upset when he eventually did find evidence of some explosives that validated his decision to destroy. Even so the things that he did find were enough for days of further research. For example every one of the eight legs on the spider was tipped with diamond-like structures that combined with the advanced hydraulic systems in the limbs could easily penetrate through the skin but there seemed to be minute structures on the tips of the limbs that had a purpose he couldn't yet discern.

Perhaps the most worrying thing was actually nothing to do with the spider in particular but Deus In Machina themselves. The man, woman or animal operated primarily in the Western European area as a dealer in weapons and equipment funding terrorists and criminals alike. No country would dream of having favourable dealings with them after their equipment was used in the infamous Vienna Massacre. Their quirk, if any, was unknown and their modus operandi was to supply their tools to third parties and then use their crimes as advertisement to sell to the next group. That unfortunately meant that Deus In Machina would not have come all the way to Japan if somebody didn't pay them well to do so.

The flash drive had deleted all the data by the time he had reached the labs and even tried to install a backdoor into his server when he plugged it in. This hands on method of assistance seemed to be far more of an intimate partnership then was normally attributed to the reclusive machinist, causing Izuku to wonder just who the man was that convinced them to offer such great assistance.

A quick check of his trusty digital clock caused Izuku to sigh. He had been so busy with the work on the spiderbot that he had missed his nightly dream viewing, an event that he always looked forward to. It was already six A.M and so Izuku reluctantly locked the remains of the spiderbot up in a specially made nigh impenetrable safe that he kept under the main desk; he had watched too many movies to allow it to miraculously revive and snoop around his lab. Unfortunately there was also no way for him to leave it with the guys at Valley Industries without getting into unnecessary trouble for possessing DIM technology.

He clapped his hands once and all the other clones of him flickered out of existence. He both loved and hated that quirk, often at the same time. **Needs Paper** allowed him to create a clone of himself that operated independently. On the positive side the clones often had all of his knowledge and intelligence. On the downsides his clones could only hold one of his quirks at most. Being reduced to only one quirk put massive psychological stress on each clone and each one could only maintain its existence for a maximum of one hour before fading away. In addition and perhaps paradoxically his clones were massive cowards and would retreat from physical confrontation or even fade away if their assailant was too persistent.

Lastly he took off his lab coat, placing it on coat hanger, before turning off the lights and disappearing from the lab.

xxx

Katsuki was properly pissed off at the moment. This was not terribly unusual as she generally had low patience for the background bullshit of life, but this time her irritation was more focused on a specific blonde with maybe some spilling over onto her green haired friend. Himiko Toga had hit up her phone multiple times to ask where Izuku was last night and she could barely tolerate that bitch at the best of times. Apparently Izuku had left a short message that he was not going to be returning home tonight to Inko and that had made the clingy psychopath upset. Toga had them come to the impression that she would know where Izuku was and her constant wheedling had pissed her the fuck off.

Not that she had the wrong impression by any stretch of the imagination. If Izuku hadn't even told Himiko where he was then he was almost certainly in his precious lab. Her friend had eagerly showed her around the lab a few times and it was almost cute the way he flittered around the lab excitably pointing out new research he was doing or showing her things that he had built. He had actually seemed rather irritated when she had deliberately showed no reaction and in response he had frantically started throwing out more and more wonders that he had built or learnt or taken from villains.

After about an hour of Himiko's bullshit Katsuki was tempted to just spill the beans and give her directions to the lab; basically to make her Izuku's problem, but she had restrained herself, partly due to the fact that Izuku would owe her in future and partly because she wasn't going to miss an opportunity to hold something over the knife-wielding maniac.

Her phone announced the receipt of another message and Katsuki was about to tell Himiko to fuck off again before she took a glance at the actual caller ID.

"Izuku," she growled out as she put the phone to her ear. "Please send a message to your yandere assistant to stop fucking calling me at fucking two in the morning."

"You realise that you could block her number," Izuku replied without missing a beat. "Frankly I'm baffled you haven't already."

"Maybe because if I do then she'll probably call my home phone and then my mom will be pissed at me," Katsuki said. "Never mind," she said taking a deep breath. "Why are you phoning me now? We'll see each other in…" she glanced at a clock on her wall. "About half-an-hour," she finished.

"Something infiltrated U.A yesterday," Izuku said with undue seriousness. "I took care of it, but it stole some information."

Katsuki drew a breath in. Very few villains would ever have the guts to infiltrate U.A and from the way that Izuku had phrased it, the thing would have gotten away if he wasn't there. In fact the way that he phrased it implied…

"Izuku just what was it that you intercepted?" she asked.

"A small robot about a foot high and in the shape of a spider," Izuku replied.

"That doesn't sound like any villain I've heard of," Katsuki said wracking her brain for the names of villains; first in Japan and then overseas. A villain that had the guts to infiltrate U.A must surely be known, unless of course they were some assassin or some unknown quirk wielder from the darker places of the world. "Know who it was?" she asked Izuku. He had more knowledge about foreign heroes; having fought a truly abnormal amount of them in his younger days.

"I do not know who is pulling the strings," Izuku said and she had a feeling that he was being honest but it didn't change that he knew more than he was letting on.

"Did you at least enjoy your time in the lab," Katsuki asked, more out of politeness than actually giving a shit.

"Tremendously," Izuku said. "You know you don't have to care to pretend with me. I can always take Himiko next time."

"We both know that the lab won't be the thing that she focuses on," Katsuki said deadpan. Himiko and Izuku had a weird relationship and not one that she could claim to be entirely comfortable with. While Izuku was practically invulnerable it was still not a nice thing for a girl to walk into a room and see her best friend run through by a knife. There was something very wrong with that girl; the kind of wrong that she didn't want near her or anybody she knew.

"Regardless Midoriya Automaton Incorporated will likely be releasing new and improved robots within a month," Izuku said with a distinct tinge of smug satisfaction in his voice. "You have tickets to the launch if you want."

"No," Katsuki refused immediately. Among all the things that she could be doing chatting with investors and promotors was nowhere near the top of the list. "Maybe you could also take Himiko along to the launch. I'm sure that she will enjoy the bullshit. You should go tell her right now; and tell her to stop phoning me while you're there."

"Himiko's on the payroll so she will be there regardless, Katsuki," Izuku said with a tone indicating he was deriving amusement from her suffering. "But you have a point. I should go show face at my house and speak to Himiko. Any idea just what has got her so excited?"

"There is no amount of money you could pay me to get inside the head of that woman," Katsuki said resolutely.

Izuku laughed at that and she could envision him shaking his head on the other side of her cellphone. "Stay safe Katsuki. I'll see you at school."

"I'll see Masaru at school," she corrected before putting down the phone with Izuku's laughter still ringing in her ears.

xxx

"He's still not here yet," Katsuki spoke beneath her breath referring to her best friend. She sat at her desk waiting to meet up with Masaru and perhaps covertly interrogate him about the even yesterday. This didn't look like it was going to happen however as the classroom was nearly full already but the only red hair she saw was that sharptoothed bastard. She had to really try hard to look for nicknames for that guy considering he reminded her of a rougher, less elegant form of Masaru. Thinking about it, she couldn't even see red hair of the half faced bastard who had so pissed her off yesterday. Hopefully her victory over him would make him return hungry for victory and then she could actually get a great fight out of him.

"Hello Bakugou," Round Face said as she appeared at her table causing Katsuki to frown imperceptibly. She had spoken to her a few times during this week and while Izuku got along with her, she was far too soft for Katsuki to take her seriously as a future Pro hero.

"What was your name again," she said and she watched the girl's face fell.

"I'm Ochaco Uraraka," she said looking incredibly embarrassed.

"Call me Katsuki," she said briskly. If she was going to be hanging around Masaru as much as she did over this week then she might as well as address her properly.

"Okay then please call me Ochaco," the gravity girl said bowing slightly.

"So Katsuki," another girl who she had never spoken to before moved towards her desk. "What's the relationship between you and Masaru?" This new girl was pink; her nickname was tentatively set to pink girl, and had yellow horns pink hair and a permanently excited look on her face. She was also more endowed then Katsuki although by this point Katsuki was self-aware enough to realise that it wasn't unusual.

"He's my best friend," Katsuki replied seriously. "I do not have any romantic entanglements with him," she followed up trying to nip this bullshit in the bud.

"But I think you would make such a cute couple," the girl said honestly sounding disappointed. "Aren't you childhood friends? We all know where that leads to," she said winking at Katsuki. Besides her Ochaco was also watching her intently, with an expression that showed she was hanging on every word.

"Nowhere," Katsuki said although she was far from certain. Her own feelings towards Izuku were complicated. They had been very good friends for a long time and he was, besides her own father, far and away the most important man in her life. They had even kissed when younger, as practice for the future of course. She physically forced that thought away though as there was no fucking way she was going to allow herself to blush right now.

"Besides," she decided to redirect the conversation. "Masaru already has another girlfriend. Ask him to tell you about Himiko sometime."

The words that she said caused both the eyes of Pink Girl and Ochaco to widen in surprise although she noticed something extra in Ochaco's eyes that she wasn't sure she liked. Pink Girl was about to say something when she was interrupted by a girl with black hair in a large ponytail and… Katsuki blinked and then stared at her own chest. Okay that girl was stacked. Holy crap was she really fifteen.

"You shouldn't pry into other people's relationships," she said sternly. "If Bakugou or Tenchi don't want to talk about their relationship then we should respect their wishes.

"What's this about our relationship," Masaru said as he walked into the classroom. "Honestly Katsuki what stories have you been telling them?"

"I was telling them about your girlfriend Himiko," Katsuki said, slightly smug in the knowledge that she was getting one over her utter troll of a friend.

"Don't unload all your repressed lust for Himiko onto me," Masaru said causing Katsuki to almost swallow her tongue.

"What the fuck," she spluttered out nearly choking over her words. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Mina," Masaru turned towards Pink Girl. "Some sage advice from somebody who has seen too much; there are some love triangles you just don't want to get into."

At this point Ochaco burst out laughing and soon Mina followed suit. Katsuki glared at them but her expression apparently only caused them to further double over in laughter. Even Jugs looked as if she was restraining a smile

"I'm not sure how much I believe you," Ochaco said trying to hold in her laughter. "Sorry Masaru but you have been known to lie a bit," she said trying to look stern.

"That's okay Ochaco," Masaru said smiling back. "By the way Katsuki, do you remember this morning…" whatever he was about to say next was cut off as Aizawa entered the room and with a look was able to get everyone rushing to their seats.

"Well done on your battle training yesterday," Aizawa said with his usual apathetic look. "There was no major injury which means that I have no qualms in putting you through today's special training. Today we will be going offsite for rescue training and you will be supervised by All Might, No. 13 and I. Wear your costumes or do not, but know that you will be dealing with disasters such as fires, floods, earthquakes and whatever else No.13 can cook up for you. The bus leaves in fifteen minutes, do not delay the rest of the class."

The class broke into their own conversations as soon as Aizawa's speech ended. Curious as to what Masaru actually had to say about this morning Katsuki turned to find him deep in conversation with a frog girl, apparently they were talking about the opportunities for their quirk in rescue situations. Katsuki's quirk was actually pretty useless in rescue situations. Nitro-glycerin was not a substance that people first thought about when saving lives.

"Bakugou, it will be your job to make sure that everybody boards the bus in an orderly fashion," Aizawa said handing her a class list. "Welcome to being Class President," he continued and she found herself slightly disconcerted at the creepy smile that crept across his face. She contemplated on pawning her job off to Masaru for a brief moment before she manned up and set about doing her best to get the class orderly and on the bus.

xxx

"So what did you want to show me anyway?" Katsuki asked as she sat next to Masaru on the bus. Despite all the hustle of the last few minutes she hadn't forgotten the thing he wanted to tell her. Izuku didn't speak and instead reached out into the trench coat that comprised his hero suit and pulled out a newspaper article. The headline of the article caused Katsuki's eyes to widen and she grabbed the newspaper reading swiftly through the article before tossing it to the floor.

"Hidden link between Izuku Midoriya and the Hero Killer," Frog Girl read out loud and there was a flurry of commotion in the surrounding seats to see the newspaper. Katsuki glanced at Masaru but his face was covered by the mask and she couldn't get even the slightest hint of emotion from him.

"Honestly it's not that damning," Iida said finishing up his perusal of the newspaper. "They somehow found evidence that the Hero Killer was a vigilante at around the same time as Izuku Midoriya and that they may have patrolled the streets together. There has been no sign of the two of them together since Izuku Midoriya gave up on vigilantism. The headline is in fact far more scandalous than the rest of the article. There is no evidence to suggest that Izuku Midoriya is collaborating with the Hero Killer. This is most likely the same faction of rumour mongers that were speaking about Izuku Midoriya being an alien or a god when he first showed up."

"Besides do your think he would need the Hero Killer," Two Face spoke up. The guy had been even quieter than normal today; disappointingly he seemed to have been taking his loss yesterday hard. "You must have seen the videos online of any of his 'fights'. You must have heard the stories of certain countries targeting him after the incident in Laos. If he didn't kill any heroes then, why would he start to do so now?"

Two Faces words while harsh were enough to allay any fears and the majority of the classmates returned to their seat. Masaru reached for the newspaper and slipped it back into one of the pockets on the underside of his jacket.

"Are you worried," Katsuki said as she leaned in a bit closer to her friend. While she massively pissed off at him still, her concern outweighed her rage, if only barely.

"No," Masaru replied turning to face her with those black eyeholes. "But I think that they should focus less on Izuku Midoriya and more on the people who look up to him."

Katsuki hadn't thought of that. She knew that there had been an upswing in vigilantism sometime after Izuku had become famous but she had never thought of the implications. Maybe her friend would make a press conference… but what would he say. He wouldn't denounce his days of vigilantism. Despite him regarding his vigilante days as embarrassing he certainly has never denounced the work he did and Katsuki had heard enough stories about Stendahl to make it extremely unlikely that Izuku was going to pretend that they never met.

The feeling of the bus slowing to a stop dragged her out of her contemplations and Katsuki looked out of the window to see an entrance straight out of amusement park. Collapsed buildings could be seen to one side while a large dome stood on the other. Katsuki enforced an orderly exit and Aizawa led the classroom inside where he greeted a very familiar face.

"Thirteen," Katsuki heard Ochaco exclaim with clear excitement in her voice. Well more excitement than the lively girl normally displayed. Apparently Thirteen was a personal favourite of hers.

"The flood zone, the land slide zone…" Thirteen began.

"I am here," the voice of All Might distracted the whole class from Thirteen's speech as the legendary hero appeared with a speed that even Katsuki could not keep track of. "I am sorry for keeping you waiting; there was a bank robbery on the other side of town."

"That was irrational," Aizawa said but he didn't go any further. Katsuki supposed that even if he did have a problem with All Might's priorities, he wasn't going to criticize him in front of the students.

"You actually arrived just on time," Thirteen said politely. "I was explaining to the students that their quirks are used to save lives and that their quirks also have the potential to be dangerous to themselves and others."

"Of course," All Might said agreeing immediately. "Take it from me; there have been a number of times when a misused quirk resulted in death or injury."

"Indeed," Thirteen agreed. "There are many people who chafe under the restrictions of this society where quirks are monitored and restricted. But never forget that quirks can be dangerous and if uncontrolled then people will die. In fact my own quirk has the power to tear apart anything," he said and a swirling black vortex appeared above him.

"Today's training will show you how to use your quirks to rescue people from disasters," Thirteen said. "There will be no fighting villains in this training."

"I beg to differ," a slightly robotic voice appeared from nowhere.

The reaction of the three Pro heroes was immediate and well-practiced. Each one of them split up and started scanning the area for the voice while putting themselves in front of their students. Suddenly a robotic spider with red eyes and eight long silver limbs like the robot that Izuku had described this morning spat out from under the ground.

"Oh sorry, I think I might have jumped the gun somewhat," the spider said with one of its arms rubbing itself in a manner that could almost be considered bashful. "I'm so new to this."

"Who are you," Aizawa said his eyes glowing red. His words went unanswered as a black vortex that bore a similarity to Thirteen's opened up and dozens of people disgorged from the hole led by a white-haired man with far too many hands. Questions arose liberally from her classmates but with one look Aizawa shut them down.

"Stay back those are villains," he said drawing his goggles over his eyes. He stepped to the left side of the students and Thirteen stepped to the right while All Might walked forward standing between the new villains and his students.

"Dim you stole my entrance," the white-haired man yelled angrily at the spider robot and Katsuki felt a drop of nitro-glycerine run down her forehead. Really he sounded like a kid rather than a super scary villain.

"Sorry Shiragaki," the spider robot said sounding upbeat. "It was such a perfect set up that I couldn't resist. I mean they were coming to do a course that was specifically about not fighting villains and then all of a sudden they had to fight villains." The spider robot continued without pause. Apparently whatever speaker system it used did not require lungs to work. "And I could have said later something like, 'you mentioned that you wouldn't fight villains but you were wrong because we're here and we're villains and you're fighting us. But since I did it now they can fully appreciate the irony of that statement," she paused. "It's an advertising thing Shiragaki. You wouldn't understand."

"Why are you here?" All Might said and it might have been Katsuki's imagination but his ever-present smile seemed to be slightly dimmer than usual.

"We're here to…" the spider robot started.

"Quiet Dim," the so-called Shiragaki said. "We're actually after nothing much. We just want to kill the symbol of peace."

"I see," All Might said far more calm than anybody else at the moment. "If you're so confident then bring it on."

"Get him Nomu," the white haired guy said and next to him a black bodied villain with an exposed brain and a bird like face leapt up at him. All Might didn't hold back either as he leapt downwards and let loose a flurry of blows towards the villain that drove him downwards into the ground.

"Ah well I guess conversations have broken down then," the spider robot said sounding almost disappointed but Katsuki had more than enough by this point. Lunging forward she drove her fist into the spider bot igniting her sweat and causing a massive explosion and she almost felt one of her knuckles pop. The spider bot skidded backwards a few feet before shaking its body experimentally. "I think you've scratched the paint," it said and the fucking thing sounded conciliatory rather than any measure of frightened. "Oh well I hope you can dodge this."

Katsuki's mouth went fucking dry as a goddam minigun extended from the top of the spider that honestly should have no way of fitting in. It started to spin and Katsuki genuinely felt for a brief moment that she would die and then the spider was lifted up into a spinning vortex of blackness. Jets from its legs fought against the immense gravity but it was no use and Katsuki watched with relief as the thing was shredded by the black hole. She chided herself immediately for being stupid and worrying. Izuku was right there and despite his disguise there was absolutely no way that he would let her die. She sighed in relief as she watched the spider disintegrate before a scream caused her attention to waver. Turning her head to the side she watched as a hole in space tore apart most of Thirteen's body.

"Maybe you should stick to fighting natural disasters and avoid the man-made ones," a misty black villain said. He looked more like a hole in space with two white pin pricks in the shapes of eyes. Suddenly he lurched and fell to the floor as Aizawa lunged towards him.

For a moment it looked like he was going to reach the villain only for some impeccable instincts to force him back as the space he occupied became subject to a hail of gunfire. The spider robot was missing half of its body and yet it still managed to somehow track the teacher for a few seconds before a burst of green lightning burnt it out of existence.

The misty villain had already disappeared backwards and he stood regarding Aizawa. Thirteen was down on the floor with half his suit torn to pieces but Kastsuki had no way of knowing if he was okay.

"That quirk of yours is really hard to deal with," the misty villain said addressing Aizawa but their home room teacher didn't give him any opportunity to speak further as he activated his quirk and dashed forward at a speed faster than Katsuki could even reach. Once more victory looked to be in his grasp when the ground broke open once more and another one of those spider bots burst through the ground clashing directly into their teacher's chest and causing Aizawa to go stumbling back.

"Hey what do you mean by my robots are a man-made disaster," that voice that Katsuki was starting to find very irritating sounded out again and she felt the ground rumble as more and more of those spider bots showed up. "I'll have you know that Deus In Machin does not make a poor quality robot. Each robot is of spectacular quality and decently priced for that quality. Accept no substitutes," she finished off as the spider robots closed in on their teachers' location. The next few moments were pandemonium as the students quirks faced off against the impenetrable wave of spider robots that rushed Aizawa's position and Aizawa was forced to give ground.

Katsuki was about to join in as well when a sense of danger enveloped her senses and she dodged backwards just in time for a wave of blackness to envelop the remaining students and disappear leaving the ground bare of them.

"Kurogiri, I wanted to test my robots against the students," one of the many spider robots stamped one of its feet. I'm sure they would have some good quirks that I could use for field testing.

"You can always go chase after them," the one called Kurogiri said. "There's even one left over here. Just help me kill Eraserhead and then you can go ahead and hunt down the children at your leisure."

"Hmmm," the robot said and one or two turned their red glowing eyes towards Katsuki. Aizawa was also focused on Katsuki as well as the group surrounding him and Katsuki got the annoying sense that both she and Aizawa were outmatched. The robots were incredibly tough and she would have to go all out to fight them. Silently counting in her head she reached eighteen in no time whatsoever. If she was going to take them all on then she would need to keep moving and use large explosions to damage and wear them down.

"I have the perfect idea," the spider said before the jets on its legs ignited and it launched itself at Katsuki. None of the other robots moved, instead going after Aizawa and Katsuki felt annoyance touch her mind as the spiders were surely underestimating her. Rubbing her hands together she thrust her fists forwards creating a set of rapid fire explosions that caused the air the robot was moving through to burn before she launched herself into the flames catching the spider in an axe-kick. At the moment of impact she took advantage of her sweat glands being open and detonated every molecule of nitro-glycerine on her right foot. Like a meteor the robot plummeted into the ground cratering and cracking the tiles and she rejoiced when she heard a snap from inside the robot. It twitched weakly for a second and Katsuki felt satisfaction…

Before a sharp pain ran through her spine. It was brief, but alarming and in the very next second she felt her body start to go numb. Panicking and turning her head inch by inch. She was treated to the sickening sight of a spider behind her with its man limbs penetrating her body. The revolting sight was the last thing she saw before a wave of lethargy sent her into unconsciousness.

 **Author Note: I'm actually running out of things to say in author notes. Maybe I should make the chapters longer.**


	7. Chapter 7

As soon as his fists impacted the hard body of the villain Toshinori Yagi knew he was in for a tough fight. The body of the evildoer near absorbed the entirety of his punch. While he made it a point to never attack with full force on the first punch, in order to prevent a messy death to villains, there would normally still have been more of a reaction than that. Maybe he had gotten sloppy over the last couple of years when there were no more villains that could challenge him or maybe this monstrous looking man was simply a truly terrifying villain. At first glance it seemed his quirk had something to do with shock-absorption which made him a truly poor match up for him but looking deeper his body was also incredibly strong. Those two traits combined made him somewhat of a counter to him.

The black monster retaliated with a massive punch that impacted his chest and even caused him to stagger slightly, but he didn't retreat one step before bursting forwards with all his strength and launching punch after punch into the villain's body in the hopes of overloading his shock absorption quirk. Ten punches impacted in the blink of an eye and the villain went flying backwards and crashing through one of the nearby walls. Without so much as a breather Toshinori used his momentum to move towards the nearby villains and incapacitating. While they were by no stretch of the imagination threatening he couldn't rule that they could cause some damage to the students behind him and that was one thing that he could not tolerate.

In less than the blink of an eye a dozen of the villains were incapacitated. Toshinori didn't plan around their quirks or concoct a battle plan or anything. In the end he simply fed massive amounts of energy from One for All into his immensely powerful body and used it as a pinpoint weapon to incapacitate his foes before they could even react. Suddenly a black light caught the corner of his eye and he whirled around in time to see a black ball of mist envelope the kids before disappearing.

His heart felt like it jumped out of his chest as he stood there watching the spot where the future Pro Heroes of Japan should be standing. Fear, rage, pain and despair bubbled up and were forced down immediately as he focused on what was important right now, namely saving his students. Ignoring the remaining villains for now he left crossing the distance in no time…

Or at least that's what he intended. What actually happened was very different as a massive black fist impacted his side and this time he was the one that crashed into the dirt. Pain greeted him like an old friend that he had not seen for a long time but he hardly had time for a reunion after such a half-hearted blow. Standing up and giving no sign that he was affected in any way he watched with some satisfaction that the villains took a step back. While he did not like to be feared, it was unfortunately a necessary role that the symbol of peace had to play.

The one villain that did not step back was the original one that he engaged. With pitch black skin and a beak like mouth and an exposed brain the thing seemed inhuman beyond any mutagenic features caused by its quirk. Unlike before when the thing seemed fairly mindless, it now stood frozen still and staring directly at All Might.

"Standing between me and the safety of my students is really not a good place to be," All Might said slowly and letting his smile drop as he felt fury rise up from inside him. "If you're not going to move then forgive me if I'm a bit rougher than usual."

"I've seen exactly how rough you can be, All Might," the villain said. Its voice was harsh and grating, as if its mouth was not made for speech, but its words were spoken with a sophisticated, almost aristocratic manner in contrast to its outward appearance. "Believe me when I say that soon enough those laurels you wear will soon adorn your grave."

"You would not be the first to say something like that," Toshinori said deciding that enough was enough and letting his fists do the talking. This time he didn't hold back at all, but also this time as he went in for the punch he found something very odd going on. The villain's muscular right arm bulged, becoming a coil, before colliding with All Might's own sending out massive shockwaves through the area that decimated the surrounding area and flung all the other villains like ragdolls. Both All Might and his opponent were forced backward by the combined force of the blow and the two slid backwards dozens of metres before stopping.

"Tomura," the beaked villain started and Toshinori saw that there was one solitary villain that hadn't been flung away, a white haired man with hands that gripped his entire body. "Go have fun with the students. I'll take care of the 'Symbol of Peace'." Those last words were said with contempt and despite the lack of facial expressions Toshinori got the feeling that he was looking down on him.

"If you think I will let you…," he started.

"I don't expect you to let me do anything," the villain said making a noise that could have been laughter. "You simply cannot prevent me from doing what I want. Not this time at least."

"We've never met before," All Might refuted immediately. While he had fought hundreds of criminals over his time, he would certainly have remembered fighting such a powerful, unique-looking foe.

"Oh really?" the creature said as it abruptly stopped its laughter. "You would think that you would remember the person whose entire empire you destroyed, whose comrades you crushed and who you left to die buried beneath the ruins of their own home."

"No," Toshinori said as he felt his world crumble around him. His refutation was more a product of instinct than a genuine reflection of the possibility. In his shock he didn't even realise that the white haired young man had disappeared. While he had indeed taken down countless criminals over the years, there was only one possible villain that fulfilled all of those criteria. The one villain that he never hoped to fight again, the one villain who had very nearly killed him and had in fact critically wounded him to such an extent that he had thought he would never be able to be a Pro Hero again. The one villain who had forced him to break his rule and attack with lethal force.

"All For One," Toshinori spoke through gritted teeth.

"Oh it seems you do remember the person who killed your teacher," the monster said. "Like the changes I've made."

"What have you done?" Toshinori asked trying to figure out how his time arch nemesis. The man who he had spent much of his life training to defeat had not only somehow survived but ended up as this monstrosity.

"I will admit that my current form is not quite up to the standards of my old body but that just leaves a lot of room for improvement." His voice gradually took on a menacing tone as he spoke until every word seemed to contain hatred. "As I lay dying beneath the ruins of my empire I came to the realisation that the fault for my defeat laid itself solely on my own shoulders. I could have done so much more in my time to turn Japan and eventually the whole world into my utopia."

"Do you really think that somebody like you will ever be able to take over the world," Toshinori scoffed at the thought even through his shock. The world was an incredibly large place filled with incredibly powerful people.

"Alactrity Light perished at the hands of the Blood Beast," All For One began raising a finger. "Destro died and his merry band scattered," he continued raising another. "Primordius is wracked from illness from what I've heard and he won't be escaping death's grasp much longer. Victor Zhuding met his end at the hands of Izuku Midoriya. I could continue but I think you get the gist of what I mean when I say that now would be the perfect time to make a play for the world."

"You will never succeed as long as I'm here," All Might said shaking off any wavering doubts. He had never truly regretted All for One's death before considering the man's nature and while he was never one to advocate fatal force he would rather have All For One dead than here in front of him.

"But you won't be here," All For One said. "I don't know if you've realised this but I truly hate you. When you destroyed my criminal empire and arrested all of my associates you lit a burning flame of hatred in my heart, the like I've never felt before. Right now my only desire for you is to take everything from you like you did with me, starting with your mobility." As he spoke a robotic spider tore from the ground and crawled up the body of One For All.

"I still think you should go for a lower dose," the spider said before six needles sprung from six of its feet and all of them pierced the black body of his nemesis.

"This concoction is a drug called Trigger," All For One said ignoring the voice of the spider. "It's been imported and is of a higher quality than the trash that they sell locally." The black body started to steam and Toshinori watched as the muscles further expanded until they reached ridiculous size and at this point he decided to act.

"Texas Smash," was the words he used as he put full force behind the blow and he watched as his enemy responded in turn, instantly ripping the spider off and lunging forwards with a rebuttal. Under no illusions that it would be an easy fight, Toshinori Yagi once more leapt into battle with his hated foe.

xxx

Shoto Todoroki rubbed his right side, warming it up incrementally as he strode across the iced surface of the lake. Behind him walked Mashirao Ojira carrying a sleeping Tsuyu Asui in his tail. The girl's frog quirk apparently gave her a weakness to low temperatures, which would have been really helpful to know before he froze the lake and the villains inside. That mist had deposited the three of them above the ocean and he had been briefly rescued by Asui before he had chosen to freeze all the villains. It was actually disappointing for his first real villain fight. None of them were able to even offer any noteworthy reaction before he froze them and the surface of the lake together until they were sticking out of the icy lake like particularly ugly flowers.

Annoyance struck him as he looked at his phone, somehow survived the water they were dumped in and yet still no signal. Ojira had a similar problem leaving the two of them no way to call for help. Still there should be other students and hopefully at least one of them would be able to get through. The villains obviously came prepared to tangle with All Might and while he was definitely the strongest hero they wouldn't have come if they didn't have a plan that countered him.

A sudden shockwave hit all three of them with no warning causing the trio to go sliding back along the ice. Emanations of sound and air echoed from the middle of the park, the area that All Might was in.

"So that's probably their plan," Shoto said to himself. Those kinds of impacts could only be All Might and he wouldn't go all out to that extent if there was not a villain that warranted it. Whoever the villains were they had one hell of a trump card behind them.

"Are we going over there," Ojira said and there was a tangible reluctance in his voice; a reluctance that Shoto could both understand and appreciate.

"No," he said. "If we were to go we would get in the way and possibly cause All Might to lose focus." He had heard from his father multiple times that weaker heroes and civilians getting in the way were the bane of existence and while All Might may be politer about it he probably still wouldn't appreciate the unnecessary complexity that they would add to the battle. The fight was also between them and the original place entrance with the spiders so he couldn't return there either.

Suddenly an explosion rang out, distinct and smaller than the ones near All Might and with far more flame. While Shoto could hardly be considered an expert on explosions it wasn't easy for him to forget the same kind that had led to his defeat just yesterday.

"That's Bakugou," Ojira said coming to the same conclusion.

"Stay here," Shoto said whirling around and looking him dead in the eye. "Protect Asui until she wakes up." Maybe it was irresponsible of him to leave them and maybe he was being too presumptuous in leaving his Ojira but he was still one of the strongest students and even if he couldn't help in All Might or Aizawa's fights he could definitely help to protect the other students.

"Stay safe," Ojira responded. "When she wakes up we'll come and help."

Shoto nodded. He had no real authority to inform his decisions. After a brief moment he handed his phone over to his tailed classmate. "Try dialling the number under Father. If you can get through just explain the situation to Endeavour. He will definitely show up if only to try and show up All Might."

"Okay," his classmate said and Shoto gave the two one more look before he dashed off in the direction of another one of Bakugou's explosions.

xxx

Aizawa opened his eyes again to find out black mist villain had finally managed to use that brief moment of blindness to escape. Sweat ran down his brow as a bullet whizzed past his head, barely missing his ear by a millimetre. The spiders had quickly employed a strategy of attacking his blind spots and they quickly proved themselves the perfect counter to him, possessing no quirks and a hard shell that there was no way to damage. It was genuinely unnerving just how much force the spiders could shrug off. Their design made the robots that U.A uses, which granted were not the strongest due to their use against students, seemed like toys made out of tinfoil in comparison. While he could keep up in the beginning the robots had not only gradually increased their speed but had also started countering his manoeuvres. Steadily the robots decreased from twelve to six as they collectively became more deadly in their attacks.

If he were to continue at this rate he would certainly lose and there was no possible way he could pull off a victory. Another robot launched itself at him with blades extending from its legs and he ducked to the side catching it with his scarf and slamming it into the ground. He paid dearly for his brief counterattack as a dart from his blindspot dug deep into the left of his back and he felt a burst of electricity course through his body.

Gritting his teeth and fighting through the lightning coursing through his body he reached behind him and yanked out the dart tossing it away. This fight wasn't going his way and he resolved to visit the support department afterwards… if he survived.

"I'm getting a bit tired of this," the voice of the Deus In Machina spoke up for the first time since his students were teleported and Aizawa watched in horror as the minigun extracted itself from the spider before reassembling itself and focusing on him. He focused shifting his weight as he took his placed his full concentration on the gun's trajectory and he observed as the weapon spun up before it turned and locked onto him.

"BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ," was the sound that hit his ears as green light obliterated the space that the spider stood in. Scarcely half of the offending arachnid was available as its attempts to dodge proved only half successful. Even the other spiders stopped momentarily as the damaged robot dragged itself up on its remaining limbs.

"I was waiting for you," the voice of the infamous inventor said speaking to thin air. "I saw you weren't gone but to think it would take the imminent death of your teacher to force you to come out. Don't you think you're being a bit lazy for such a young man?"

A spot not far away was torn asunder by green lightning and then Masaru Tenchi surfaced literally tearing through the ground like it was paper. Crackles of green lightning discharged from his body and he looked deadly serious compared to the usual lackadaisical attitude that he had.

"It's called reconnaissance," he said and a bolt of lightning tore from his finger only to be dodged by one of the robots. He frowned and stepped forward as lightning seemed to bounce around his limbs. "Teacher where is Katsuki," he said ignoring the robots that had given the older hero such a hard time and focusing on Aizawa.

"She was attacked by a spider," Aizawa said deciding not to obscure the truth. His student was probably the one who was best able to fight against the lifeless robots and right now he was pretty grateful that he was the one left behind. "It seemed to…"

"Control all of her muscles, nervous systems and quirk factors while rendering the victi… patient in a semiconscious state," Deus In Machina said as the broken spider making disturbingly lifelike motions. "Believe it or not I originally intended to use it on people experiencing partial or complete paralysis, as a manner of improving their way of life. Isn't if funny where life takes you."

Masaru Tenchi was very still for a moment and then he turned to Aizawa. "You need to stop her," he said gravely staring at him. "Katsuki's quirk is exceptionally dangerous and if she's used against the other students there could be injuries or even fatalities." Every word he said was true and rational which made it much harder for him to refuse. "You're useless in this situation," Masaru said and his voice held none of his usual mirth.

"So this is your true face," Aizawa muttered to himself before nodding his head in confirmation. While it went against every instinct he possessed as a teacher he couldn't ignore the fact that he had an incredibly poor match-up while Masaru would be excellent against his opponent. While he would hate himself if Masaru died, he would also never forgive himself if his doubts prevented him from saving even one of his students.

"Cover me then," he said before, receiving a nod in return before he took off running forward directly for the edge of the stairs. The sound of bullets stung his ears but green lightning flashed in front of them, posing an impenetrable shield against the metallic death. Reaching the edge of the platform he was hit by scenes of conflict between the villains and his students, and sitting square in the middle of the park like two titans of old were All Might and the black bird-headed villain that he had originally attacked. Waves of rubble and dust flew with each punch from where the two of them fought and he almost considered assisting his comrade for a moment before he decided to trust in All Might's strength and prioritise the nearest fights. He took one more last glance at his student and the spiders, now increased to eight, before he leapt off the stairs and into the fray.

xxx

"So what's a world famous weapon designer doing in a little town like this?" Masaru said keeping calm. Katsuki would survive, from the beginning this opponent did not appear to employ deadly force and even if she did… well Izuku would never let his best friend go gentle into the good night.

"Little town?" the spiderbot said questioningly. "Can you really call a city containing the world famous U.A High School little?" The robot let out a laugh but the audio must have been distorted by the damage and the noise grated the skin. "Musutafu has a lot to be proud about as a tourist destination, a centre of research and a longstanding exporter of famous heroes. Besides," the robot said in a tone that could be called conspiring if the audio wasn't so screwed up. "Did you know a lot of people believe this city to be the birthplace of Izuku Midoriya?" Masaru kept a calm expression as the robot appeared to adopt a thinking pose. "If he was born I mean. For all we know he could have hatched, or germinated or popped into existence."

"You seem rather fascinated by him," Masaru commented idly, or at least his comment appeared to be idle. Deus In Machina singling him out was unlikely to be just a whim from the eccentric inventor.

"Well I am more so than recently," the spiderbot admitted. "Did I tell you I met him?"

"We haven't spoken nearly long enough for you to be giving out little anecdotes," Masaru replied calmly as he kept an eye on the spiderbots. Despite their numbers they were deliberately not flanking him and he was easily able to keep all of them in sight.

"No, it's not a long ago story," the spiderbot started. "I met him just yesterday when I broke into U.A High. I was so shocked when an invisible man followed me and even more so when he was able to cut through my Carbonic Iron." Masaru admired his restraint in not reacting to that stupidly poor, if accurate name. "I was shocked and I even started to doubt my robots a little bit. How could I call myself the world's number one roboticist if my robots can't even take one single hit?"

"Maybe the standards for this planet are just incredibly low?" Masaru offered.

"I won't accept that bullshit kind of default victory," Deus In Machina immediately rebuffed, the voice sounding just a bit angry for the first time. "Wait I'm getting off topic," the anger died down immediately and the robot twitched for a bit before it started speaking again. "Anyway as I was saying; I was looking over the final feeds from the cameras and I was stunned to see that the silhouette matched perfectly with his body outline."

"Basic outline of a human body can't be accurate," Masaru gently rebuffed.

"It helps the picture when the person has both invisibility and super-strength," Deus In Machina defended. "And I know it wasn't that invisible girl. The silhouette back then didn't have such impressive boobs."

He almost facepalmed at that stupid logic; although in practice her judgment was certainly not unfounded. That girl more than anybody else in the class had given him troubles. Even when disguised as Masaru he retained his ability to see in a wider spectrum than an ordinary human and thus he had forced himself to speak with Katsuki for the entirety of her fight lest he find himself indulging in unintentional voyeurism. The robot was still looking at him expectantly; at least that's what he thought considering his ability to judge the body language of human entities was only barely perfect.

"Okay I'll bite," he said, never once removing his eyes from her. "Whose silhouette was it?"

"Why the God Child himself, Izuku Midoriya," the robot said tilting its head inquisitively after a few seconds of silence. "You don't seem very surprised. Could it be that you already knew of his presence here?"

'Yup this girl definitely suspected something,' Masaru thought to himself. 'She's either very observant or I've overlooked something.' "I will confess to being a bit surprised," he said out loud and he was definitely not lying. "I never thought I would hear such heresy against Izuku Midoriya right in his supposed home town. You actually had the gall to imply that his breasts were not perfect; that some mere mortal had better set of knockers than him."

Suddenly the sound of a particularly deafening explosion rang out and Masaru's head whipped around towards the landslide zone. He would recognize those nitro-glycerine explosions anywhere. He had been hit by them a few times, but none of the students down there had his durability, not even that hardening kid. He wasn't worried though, considering that the spiderbots seemed to show little interest in killing their opponents, which was a small mercy he supposed.

"Your friend has quite an impressive quirk," the spiderbot said and the voice sounded just slightly more embarrassed as if even it wanted to change the subject. Masaru frowned to himself at the thought of Deus In Machina using Katsuki's body. While rationally he knew that Katsuki wouldn't die he also knew that the girl would be upset after this. An upset Katsuki made him upset.

Green lightning flared from the tips of his fingers and a nearby spider was obliterated with no warning. Putting one of his hands in his pockets he walked forward towards the robots. He heard the robot start to speak but all of his cheer had been properly run out. The spiders started to multiply further and further as the air began to crackle with green lightning.

xxx

Tenya Iida ducked behind the remains of the building as searing winds nearly scorched his back. Next to him he saw Uraraka as she touched a large piece of the destroyed surroundings before hurling it at their foe. Unfortunately their opponent this time proved to be far beyond that of the initial villains who they had easily dispatched en masse. Yaoyorozu lay unconscious on the ground where she fell after a single exchange and all that happened was her foe stepped over her insensate body.

The large block of rubble that could probably kill a normal person was vaporised by one thrust from Katsuki Bakugou causing shrapnel to ricochet throughout the area mercifully missing their unconscious classmate by what seemed like pure luck and Uraraka winced having picked up how reckless that attack had been.

"We need to get her away from Bakugou," Jiro said to Iida as the girl crouched down behind the same piece of rubble. "We don't know what kind of quirk is controlling her so right now our first priority should be getting Momo to safety. If I distract Bakugou can you grab Momo?"

"Yes, but are you sure you should try and go up against her now?" Tenya said cautiously. "You saw what happened to Yaoyorozu?"

"I can distract her with sound," Jirou replied as the earphone jack that comprised her quirk plugged themselves into her boots. "She shouldn't be able to resist the sound at least for a short while. If you can use that time to grab Momo then I can try to crank it up louder and we can try retreat for now."

"I've got it," Tenya said as he peeked over the rock at the unconscious form of his classmate. Bakugou stood there motionless seemingly unconcerned with all the madness that went on around her. Jiro didn't hesitate further springing out from behind the rock and he felt his teeth buzz as pure focused sound hit Bakugou causing the girl to collapse in pain. He brushed off his concern for his classmate for later instead activating his quirk and moving forward towards his injured classmate. His focus shrank to a needle as he inched out every ounce of power, leaving only a seconds warning as he caught the predatory gaze of Bakugou as she glanced up from her hunched over state directly at him.

Pain exploded as a kick to the side instantly dented his armour, struck his rib and he went flying across the sloped field, tumbling eventually to a painful stop. Without preamble the girl stood up seemingly unconcerned by the sound around her and he came to the painful realisation that he had fallen for a very simple trap.

In less than a second he was on the defenceless Jiro her defence amounting to little more than that of a lamb against a wolf. Her body hit the floor fast and hard and then she turned her sights towards the last standing. Stalking forward like some primal beast she advanced on Uraraka who to her credit was adopting some form of defence, but he had little hope that she would last against the beast that Bakugou had become.

Tenya focused his will standing up despite the rampant pain in his side and he hobbled forward immediately catching the attention of Bakugou who regarded him with some interest. At least one of his ribs were broken and if he were to use his quirk he likely wouldn't be able to sustain it for long without collapsing in pain, but he wouldn't allow himself to just lie there when he could still do something. Walking steadily towards the girl he waited until he was only ten metres before activating his quirk and lunging towards her with his full force. Raising his leg in a kick he felt his side catch fire and he changed it up into an awkward knee manoeuvre that hurt less, but didn't connect with the nimble adversary. He tried again and again, throwing punches where it hurt to kick, but with each move the pain flared up more and more until he lost muscle control and overextended at which point Bakugou stepped past his clumsy kick and punched him again in his wounded side.

He saw white and when he came to it was to the sight of Bakugou looking down at him from on high. He tried to struggle for a moment but with each movement he felt himself start to black out. In the end despite her being so close he could do nothing to affect her. She was smug in her silence as she gazed downwards but her face soon converted into a mask of pain as Tenya felt more than heard the loudest noise ever. His eardrums felt on the edge of bursting as audial pain snuck its way inside his head. The pain didn't last long as he watched Bakugou fly off into the air and it was with relief that he saw the form of Uraraka.

"Great job Iida," she said giving him a thumbs up, although he could barely hear her past the ringing in his head and she might have said something completely different. A slight turn of his head, the maximum motion that he could pull off right now revealed Jiro awake and nodding despite the rapidly developing bruise on her cheek.

"We did it," he said to himself and felt a bit guilty doing so considering the two girls did most of the work; namely Jiro distracting Bakugou and Uraraka making her weightless. The throbbing in his side reminded him of his wound and he took shallow breaths just reveling in the sense of relief.

"We did," Uraraka said smiling and then Tenya's heart started to freeze over as he saw her smile change to a look of horror. The sound of an impact on the ground cut straight through his deafness right into the heart of long forgotten instincts that had in ages past told primitive humans that their lives might be suddenly cut very short. Turning through the pain he caught a glimpse of Bakugou descending to the Earth with flames from his shoulders like some sort of monstrous angel. Despair like a physical force hit him as he looked upon him, too weak to even look away. Despite the danger his body refused to respond and his attempt to even lift himself resulted in an unhealthy sounding crack that sounded like the breaking of his hope.

"This is not a sight I was expecting to see when I came to help," the cold sounding voice was possibly the most glorious sound he had ever heard in his life as Bakugou focused on the person behind him rather than his injured body.

"Bakugou's brainwashed somehow,' Uraraka said summing up their situation to their savior.

"I don't suppose I could convince you to take this fight somewhere else," the voice said to which the only response was the persistent blank look. "I see then," the voice said and there was a note of anticipation even joy in that tone that was most unfitting for the situation. "I didn't think I would get a rematch so soon and this is not the fight I wanted with you, but I will not go easy." The very air seemed to chill as he spoke. "Prepare yourself Katsuki Bakugou," was the last words he heard before he allowed himself to succumb to unconsciousness.

 **Author Note: I've tried to get as many perspectives to try and imitate the original version of the manga. Please tell me how did it go. Did you like it, hate it. I should stick to only Izuku and Katsuki. I should stop writing fanfiction. Some perspective would be appreciated.**


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